The approaching spring brings with it tax levy hearings.
Required to be held ahead of public budget hearings, tax levy hearings for Clarke Community Schools and Murray Community Schools will be held Monday and Wednesday respectively.
Clarke
The tax levy hearing for Clarke schools will be held at 5:15 p.m. Monday, March 23 in the Central Administration Office.
The current property tax rate for fiscal year 2026 is 16.58691, resulting in taxes of $787 for residential properties with assessed values of $110,000 and $3,419 for commercial properties with assessed values of $330,000. The proposed property tax rate for FY27 is 16.58690, increasing residential property taxes to $813 and commercial properties to $3,795, a 3.3% increase and 11% increase respectively.
The reason noted for the proposed tax increase was due to the school reducing the income surtax for PPEL and Instructional Support from 5% to 3% that lessened the burden on earned income. That shifted funding to property taxes while keeping the overall tax rate stable from FY26 to FY27.
Murray
Murray’s property tax levy hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25 in the Murray Elementary Library.
The FY26 property tax rate is 12.95686, resulting in taxes of $615 for residential properties with assessed values of $110,000 and $2,671 for commercial properties with assessed values of $330,000. For FY27, the proposed tax rate is 13.11140, which would result in a 4.39% increase for residential properties to $642 and a 12.32% increase to $3,000 for commercial properties.
Reasons for the proposed increase are due to the general obligation bond passed in November.