Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott Voters To Face Slight Millage Increase

Prescott School District voters will be going to the polls in September to decide if they want to comply with state law or leave the present millage where it is 28.1 mills.

State law now requires that a minimum amount of millage be passed, based partly on what other school districts are doing throughout the state. Loosely speaking, the state requires 25 mills for maintenance and operation of the district, of which part is included in the bonded debt service.

Prescott School District was notified recently that its millage was .08 of a mill (.0008 of a cent) below what is required, according to Jim Franks, president of the board. The board decided it would ask for one mill so it would not have to come back next year and ask for another minor portion of a mill.

If voters decide they do not want the one-mill increase, the Nevada County Quorum Court's job will be to adjust it accordingly, Ron Wright, superintendent of the school district, said. He said it was not an option, but the law requires the court do it.

However, Franks said if the quorum court increases the millage it will be for only .08 of a mill, which means that next year it will have to be done again, and probably every year thereafter. He said one mill is only a few cents a year for many, or a few dollars for some, based upon the amount of property one owns. But it just isn't very much, he stated Monday.

The law was changed a few years ago so districts could be better funded by the state. Funding is appropriated by the state based on the student census in the district. But it is also based on an average of the millage rate in other districts, which often causes some school districts, such as Prescott, to have to increase its millage rate.

Once, a district could be penalized for having lower millage rates than what the state had set. Now the state requires the quorum courts set the rate if the district fails to meet the requirements.