CHERRY TWP — Taxes will go up in the Moniteau School District in the coming year.

On a 5-3 vote, the Moniteau School Board on Monday night passed a 2017-18 budget of $21.18 million. The current budget is $21.53 million.

The budget includes a property tax increase of 1 mill. The current tax rate is 87.62 mills. The new tax rate will be 88.62 mills. Each mill generates $1 for each $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

The millage increase raises annual real estate taxes $16 for the average homeowner in the district, said John D'Amore, district business manager.

The budget does not use money from the fund balance for ongoing operating expenses. However, the budget does use $100,000 from the fund balance for nonannually-recurring expenses. These include facility costs — such as improved entrances at Dassa McKinney Elementary School, improved sidewalks at the high school, concrete repair at both schools and exterior painting at the high school — and virtual servers for both schools.

The budget also uses $100,000 to maintain a budgetary reserve for potential unanticipated required expenses. The fund balance is about $5.20 million.

According to D'Amore, the budget reflects an increase of $572,000 in staff salary and benefit costs. This is 3 percent of the budget. Of these costs, $289,000 are increased retirement contributions for which the district receives about 64 percent reimbursement from the state.

Board members Randy Armagost, Linda Dillaman, Trixie Heck, Diane Hunter and Kathy McBride voted for the budget. Eric Anderson, Cecil Blauser and Michael Panza voted against it. Member JoAnn Duke was unable to attend the meeting.

Anderson, Armagost, Dillaman, Heck, Hunter and McBride voted for the tax increase. Blauser and Panza voted against it.

Considering the district's fund balance, Anderson said, “I think we could go a little lower than 1 mill.”

Blauser, who chairs the finance committee, said this budget came before the board because he was out voted two to one in the committee.

“I think we can do better,” he said.

Blauser said Sean Arney is still new as district superintendent and still learning about the district. Going forward, Blauser expects more creativity in lowering costs.

Arney said an overall assessment of both school buildings is in progress to determine priorities for future needs.

“We run a lean budget,” D'Amore said. “A real driving factor is our staffing costs.”

Based on the latest actuarial projections, he expects retirement costs to increase until 2035.

State funds account for about 66 percent of the district's revenue.

“The inconsistencies and uncertainty of state funding are really beginning to manifest themselves in local district budgets,” D'Amore said.

Arney said, “The problem is we're dealing with a variable we can't control.”

About 4.2 percent of the district budget is discretionary. Another 68.5 percent is for costs related to staffing and 27.3 percent is for fixed costs, according to D'Amore.

There was no public comment during the meeting.

McBride, who is the school board president, said, “We all feel this pinch.”

“I don't know what else we could have done,” Armagost said.