THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE ARTICLE BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Georgetown-Ridge Farm High School students made this children’s playhouse that was raffled off at this month’s Festival of Trees in Danville. The school district’s board Monday night approved a property tax increase to continue funding educational needs.
GEORGETOWN — Despite public objections, the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Community Unit District 4 Board of Education approved an 11.2 percent property-tax increase at a Monday meeting.
According to Superintendent Jean Neal, “We had 10 speakers at the meeting, and the concerns presented were about raising their property tax and the impact on homeowners. They expressed concerns about all the taxing bodies who continue to raise taxes.”
Total equalized assessed valuation in 2023 was $86.7 million, and the 2024 estimated increase is 7.2 percent. The tax rate is expected to increase from $4.63 to $4.87 per $100 of assessed evaluation.
A house valued at $86,000 could see about a $169 annual increase.
A presentation included information on the rationale for the 2025 Levy.
“As your superintendent, my responsibility is to ensure that we continue to provide a high-quality education for our students and meet the evolving needs of our schools and manage our resources effectively. This levy is designed with all of those goals in mind. 1. Funding educational needs and maintaining programs. 2. Staffing and teacher retention. 3. Building and facility maintenance. 4. Growing student needs. 5. Long-term community investment.”
There are 427 students at Pine Crest Elementary School; 199 at Mary Miller Junior High School; 232 at Georgetown-Ridge Farm High School; and 182 faculty and staff.
Other information presented by the school district included: $45,000 minimum teacher salary; $15/hour minimum-wage federal change; settled a new faculty and staff collective bargaining agreement to be competitive with area districts; inflation; we are not the highest salaries or the lowest salaries in the county; teachers and administration salaries are not apples to apples (contract length 9, 10, 12 months; year experience; degrees).
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