High Point budget would raise taxes 1.75%

The High Point Regional Board of Education approved a 2023-24 school year budget of about $24 million at its meeting March 14.

That will be sent to the county superintendent of schools for review.

The school board will hold a public hearing on the budget April 25 before voting on it.

The amount to be raised by taxes is $17.5 million, which Business Administrator James Minkewicz said is a 1.75 percent increase from the 2022-23 tax levy.

“We didn’t go to the maximum 2 percent,” he said. “We’re trying to give a little break, and with the adjustment of state aid that we were not anticipating, that helped us a little bit.”

High Point’s tentative budget lists outside revenue, which includes state aid, of about $5.9 million and $707,267 in special revenue.

The board president, Wayne Dunn, said while High Point did see a reduction in state aid, the cut was not as severe as expected.

“You might argue that a quarter percent is not all that much, but when you consider that 1.75 percent is the proposed increase of the tax levy, compare that to what you’re feeling in the prices of just about anything else. The inflation rate is certainly a lot higher than 1.75 percent,” he said.

Superintendent Scott Ripley pointed out that High Point’s spending has dropped by $1.9 million during the past decade.

“You could say that, ‘OK, we’ve lost several hundred students,’ which is absolutely understandable,” he said. “But the fact (is) that generally education budgets do not drop to that degree.”

Dunn said the 2023-24 budget would allow the school to set aside money in its capital fund for needed renovations to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

The board plans to apply for grants but they are not likely to cover the total cost of the project.

“The board still has to fund a portion of that,” he said. “So it is exciting to me that we are able to replenish our capital fund to some extent, whereas in the past, because of state aid cuts primarily, it was decimated.”