Two Millage Hearings Take Place Today at Franklin BOE Office in Carnesville

The Franklin County Board of Education is holding two public hearings today on their plan to leave the millage rate the same for the upcoming fiscal year.

The millage hearing takes/took place at 8a at the Board of Education Administrative offices on Busha Rd, in Carnesville.

A second hearing takes place this afternoon at 5:30p before the Board’s regular meeting.

What was published as a notice in the local paper, states the Franklin County Board of Education has tentatively adopted a millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 4.89 percent.

Speaking Sunday on 92.1’s Community Forum, Franklin County Assistant School Superintendent of Operations Carl Dekker said it’s confusing because nowhere in the required legal notice does it mention that property taxes go up because home values have increased.

Dekker said the School Board has no say in how the Tax Assessor evaluates homes and properties.

So as Dekker explained, in order for property taxes to remain the same next fiscal year, the Board of Education would have to roll back the millage rate.

Dekker said the Board cannot roll back the millage because of the loss of federal dollars called ESSER funds, which the School system received after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dekker said the School system received approximately $3 million a year in Esser funds – almost $10 million for the three years it was distributed.

ESSER stands for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. The federal government discontinued the funding last year.

Now that those funds are no longer available, it will cost the school system about over one million dollars out of the next fiscal budget to fund state-mandated teacher pay raises.

Still, without the ESSER funds and the increased costs in the next fiscal year, Dekker said the school system is looking at a $4 million shortfall.

A third and final public hearing on the millage takes place next Thursday, July 25 at 6p at the Board of Education Administrative Offices, 280 Busha Road in Carnesville.

The millage will be set at the Board of Education Meeting on July 25 at 6:30p at the Administrative offices on Busha Road.