The Lee's Summit R-7 District Got $4 Million more in taxes Last Year, So Where’s the Shortfall?

http://lstribune.net/opinion/the-lee-s-summit-r-7-district-got-4-million-more-in-taxes-last-year-so-where-s-the-shortfall.htm

The Lee's Summit R-7 District Got $4 Million more in taxes Last Year, So Where’s the Shortfall?


January 29, 2011

Despite the R-7 district's claim that tax revenue is shrinking, according to the Jackson County Collection Department they received $2 million more from property taxes this last year. According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education the District did receive a shortfall in 2010 state taxes of about 6 million dollars, but the R-7 District received an additional 8 million more dollars from the federal government through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, yielding a net gain in tax dollars in 2010 of 4 million. The total tax revenue that went to the R-7 District in 2010 amounts to $169,051,445.80.

But the district claims:

"The financial crisis is compounded by growing enrollments and rising costs in areas such as fuel, utilities and benefits, including state-mandated retirement contributions." R-7 Website.

In the Flyer the District sent home with the kids it looks like the enrollment increased by 500 this last, but if you look at the fine print on their website you find that this is the additional enrollment since 2007. It turns out that the rapidly growing enrollment amounts to 250 students this last year. (Page 4, in the question and answer section of the R-7 website.) There are 18 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and 3 High Schools. That means there has been an increase of about 1 1/2 student per grade.

I checked the inflation rate and according to the federal government it was at 1.5% in December, and fuel prices, while high, have remained consistently between $2.50-2.75 a gallon for the last two years or so. And the District really isn’t talking about how much they are having to pay in “mandated retirement” (according to the Public School Retirement System, the increase is only ½ a percent.)

But, the District assures us that it’s only an extra $336 per home assessed at $200,000, not taking into account that the commercial property, which is valued almost twice as high as residential property, is going to take an enormous hit during one of the worst economic downturns in history. Not only will this levy cause rent to go up and drive business elsewhere, it will mean higher food costs at restaurants- already hurting, and grocery stores as well as higher costs for those ballet and karate lessons.

With enrollment and inflation only growing at 1% and the 4 million additional tax dollars, I fail to see how the District can justify this levy or its devastating effects on the community.



Linda Koch Marshall,

Lee’s Summit