Sherwood is requesting voters to increase the operating tax rate for the District by 87 cents. This would raise the operating tax rate to $4.27 and the Debt Service would remain at $0.87 for a total of approximately $5.14.
The last approved operating tax rate increase was in 1995 when it was decided that $3.40 was the maximum amount the school district could tax for the operating costs. The debt service tax rate was increased in 2001 from $0.59 to $1.00 to pay for construction projects. The school district voluntarily reduced the debt service tax rate to $0.87 in 2016-17.
Currently Sherwood is 10th out of the 10 School Districts with the lowest Tax Rate in Cass County. We are 8th out of the 8 districts that neighbor our district. See all the details on the charts on the Home website.
The operating tax rate is a yearly tax rate that allows the school to have more money on a yearly basis. This money can be used for a variety of things in the district such as salaries, food service, transportation, secretaries, and maintaining the facilities of the district. The debt service tax rate is used to pay off the district's debt from a Bond Issue. Sherwood is currently paying off the bond issues from 2013 and 2016 when we did a lot of construction, renovations, and other big purchases for equipment in the district. Our district is in need of more yearly money from an operating levy instead of a large amount of money at one time to do building projects and purchase equipment.
The plan is to use these funds to increase teacher, coach, and staff salaries to help attract and retain teachers. We want to raise the average salary of our current teachers by almost $3,000 over the next 5 years by increasing steps from $375 to $500 (a salary increase on average of $1,408 per teacher depending on years of experience), adding $1,000 to the base salary, then adding another $500 to the base salary. The district would like to hire a full-time School Resource Officer to improve school safety. The district would like to add more Project Lead the Way courses which are STEM courses (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) over time in all buildings. This will allow us to purchase more technology for student use, and complete smaller projects for remodeling and renovation on a yearly basis in the school. We currently have 38 heating and cooling units in the district dates 2001 or older that need to be replaced through a rotation.
The costs for running a school district increases every year. The district is currently using money in savings to balance the budget. For the district to continue to be competitive with neighboring districts with teacher and coach salaries, make yearly repairs and smaller renovations to the district, and to have a balanced budget without taking money from savings this increase in operating funds is needed.
Sherwood Schools' base teacher salary starts at $33,000 per year. Sherwood teachers with a Master Degree and 10 years experience make $41,725, and teachers with an Education Specialist Degree and teach 30 years (highest teacher pay) make $51,225. For the same levels of education and experience, the average amounts from Strasburg, Belton, Ray-Pec, Harrisonville, Pleasant Hill, and Archie are $36,096, $45,714, and $66,433 respectively.
For a home valued at $100,000 an $0.87 increase would raise the property tax by $165.30 per year or $13.78 per month or $0.45 per day. In this case a resident paying his/her home property tax through a monthly mortgage would pay $13.78 more per month with his/her mortgage.
The goal is for the next time the district asks the community for more money it will be in 2024 or 2025 when we have a number of large projects that must be done for the building. The plan is to ask for what is commonly referred to as a "no new tax increase" where we ask the community for permission to continue taxing at a certain rate with the intent to not increase the tax rate, but the district would be able to continue making payments and borrow more money. The 2024/2025 projects would be roof replacement, parking lot repair/repaving, HVAC (heating and cooling), and other upgrades to the district facilities. The hope is the school would not make any other financial requests before the year 2030.
A simple majority of 50 percent plus one vote is required for an operating levy increase.
The last day to register to vote in the April 2 election is March 6, 2019. Online Voter Registration Mail-In Voter Registration
The new tax rate would be effective for property tax bills due December 31, 2019. If approved the District would receive the additional funds during the 2019-2020 school year.
Paid for by the Sherwood Cass R-VIII School District, Dr. Steve Ritter, Superintendent of Schools.