By Emily Younker
Globe Staff Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
Property taxes in the Webb City School District are expected to stay the same, with the Board of Education to consider keeping the district’s levy at the current rate of $3.43 per $100 assessed valuation.
A public hearing on the proposed levy will begin at 6:15 p.m. today at the administration building, 411 N. Madison St. The board’s regularly scheduled meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m.
Under the levy structure, the owner of a $100,000 house would pay about $651 in taxes this year.
Superintendent Anthony Rossetti said he expects the district to take in $7,125,900 in revenue from property taxes, a slight increase over the $7,110,795 in revenue last year.
The increase is due largely to an overall increase in assessed valuation in the district, primarily in residences. New construction, down from the previous year, is expected to provide roughly $70,000 in taxes.
Of the $3.43 levy, $2.75 will go into the general fund for operating expenses. The remaining 68 cents will go toward the debt-service fund to pay off the district’s debts associated with the issuance of bonds, including the $2 million bond issue that voters approved in November to expand three elementary schools for the early childhood education program.
In other business, Renee Goostree, associate superintendent for instructional services, will present the board with the district’s preliminary scores from last school year’s Missouri Assessment Program tests.
In Webb City, 65.9 percent of students tested proficient or better in communication arts, compared with 61.1 percent the preceding year. About 67 percent showed proficiency or better in math, compared with 61.7 percent the year before, according to preliminary data.
The report also showed that Webb City’s attendance rate held fairly steady at 95.6 percent, and its graduation rate improved slightly to 84.7 percent in 2009-10 from 84.1 percent the year before.
