O'Neill School Board Drops Tax Rate by One Percent
September 14, 2023
The O'Neill Public School Board of Education has proposed its 2023-2024 budget with a drop of one percent in its tax asking and a two percent drop in its total budget for the 2023-2024 year.
With the passing of LB 243, O’Neill Public Schools’ lost $803,000 in budget authority. Legislation did allow, with a 70% vote of the school board, the opportunity to reclaim the lost budget authority. On August 31st, the school board held a special board meeting and with a vote of 5 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 absent, the board approved to regain the lost budget authority.
The property valuations in the school district saw a five percent increase in value going from $1,121,613,999 in 2022-2023 to $1,182,397,972.
The O’Neill Public Schools general fund operating budget for the 2022-2023 was $14,203,835 with $9,104,910 coming from property tax and the special building fund budget of $3,391,887 with $1,565,657 coming from property tax.
The proposed 2023-2024 general fund operating budget is $14,375,268 with tax asking at $9,507,996. The special building fund operating budget is $2,932,433 with $1,646,465 coming from property tax. Resulting in a one percent decrease in the property tax rate and a two percent overall drop in the total budget.