Despite a deficit that grew over the past month, Knoch School District is adamant that taxes will not be raised for the 2025-26 school year.

The finalized version of the year’s budget was presented to the school board on Wednesday, June 11, to highlight changes between it and the preliminary budget approved last month. Final approval of the budget is set for a vote Wednesday, June 18.

When the budget was presented in May, a deficit of over $650,000 was reported to the board. Now, after some changes to salaries and benefits, that deficit has increased to $738,000, according to district business manager Jamie Van Lenten.

“We did add back one police position,” Van Lenten said.

Initially, the board discussed a tax increase of 3.771 mills, but ultimately decided at a later meeting to dip into the district’s existing fund balance to cover the deficit. Despite the nearly $100,000 increase, the board still plans to keep taxes the same.

Operational expenses are budgeted at just over $40 million, a $267,886 increase from the 2024-25 budget. The district plans to transfer $2.9 million from an assigned fund balance to complete the high school construction project, making the final total of the general fund budget at just under $43 million.

The board was also presented with a preliminary five-year plan for the district’s finances, but Van Lenten said the conversation would need to wait until next school year to give time for the state budget to settle and the high school construction to complete.

“We’re getting into a decent place where we’re waiting for a lot of the moving pieces to stop and then we’ll have a really clear picture,” Van Lenten said. “We can talk about that in September.”

Knoch’s current tax rate is 94.275 mills, with the median homeowner paying about $1,968.46 annually in school taxes. Before the millage increase was rejected, it would have raised that bill to a little over $2,047, an annual difference of $78.74.

A mill is equal to a $1 tax increase for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.

The district has not raised taxes since 2017. In 2024, the district considered raising the millage by 2 mills, but opted against it before adopting the final budget.