By Dennis Morgan
Co-Publisher
It’s the season of numbers.
Schools, counties and municipalities are all scheduling budget hearings for the 2020/21 fiscal year.
Antelope County is no exception to the rule. In the coming days, public hearings will be held.
The Antelope County Commissioners have scheduled their budget hearing for Tuesday, Sept. 1, beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Antelope County Courthouse.
Public comments on the budget will be heard at that time. The proposed budget calls for a 59 percent increase in the operating budget, according to the budget which can be found on Page 10. For 2020, the operating budget is being projected at $30,493,454.88, up from $19,155,429.57. The necessary cash reserve comes to $1,753,000.
Other numbers of note from the budget are:
• Property tax request — The 2020 property tax request is $6,104,344.33, down almost $10,000 from one year ago when it was $6,114,212.73.
• Valuation — The new county valuation is $2,425,177,064, down two percent from one year ago when it was $2,483,485,076.
• Tax rate — The proposed tax rate for 2020 is 0.251707, that’s up two percent from last year when the tax rate was 0.246195.
School District #18
The public hearing for the 2020/21 fiscal year budget for School District #18 will be Wednesday night, Sept. 9. The hearing will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the school gymnasium.
The budget summary shows a total property tax request of $2,131,313 for the school district which is made up of land in Antelope, Wheeler and Boone counties. That number is up three percent from one year ago when the tax request was $2,111,165. That’s from the public notice which can be found on Page 10.
Combining the general fund and the special building fund, the new operating budget would be $4,854,507, up three percent from one year ago when it was $4,724,638. The necessary cash reserve for 2020/21 has been set at $1,209,950.
Other numbers of note:
Valuation — The 2020/21 valuation is $688,886,539. That number is down two percent from one year ago when the valuation was $700,210,185.
Tax rate — Combined together, the tax rate for the general and special building funds for 2020/21 is 0.309,385. That number is up three percent from one year ago when the tax rate came to 0.306,460.
City of Elgin
Thursday, Sept. 3, has been set as the date for two public hearings for the City of Elgin. Both are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
The first will be to amend the 2019/20 budget to include additional monetary requirements for the street, fire, water, general and rescue 911 funds. The breakdown can be found on Page Eight.
The second public hearing will be on the 2020/21 city budget.
The property tax request for 2020/21 is $177,280, up 13 percent from one year ago when the request was $157,308.
Other numbers from the proposed budget:
Tax rate — The proposed tax rate is 0.406097, up three percent from one year ago when the tax rate was 0.392471.
The operating budget for 2020/21 is projected to be $1,611,164, down nine percent from one year ago when the budget was $1,769,127.50.
Valuation — The new city valuation is $43,654,588, up nine percent from last year’s figure of $40,081,382.
More details on the 2020/21 budget can be found on Page Eight.
Public hearings provide taxpayers the opportunity to question how and where their tax dollars are being spent. In addition, by asking those questions, elected officials have an opportunity to explain the rationale behind the numbers in a way to keep the public better informed.
