Dissent drew frustration among Butler School Board directors Monday night as officials moved toward raising taxes.

In a 7-to-1 vote, the board approved a proposed budget that includes a maximum tax increase of 3.03 mills added to the district's existing 101 mill property tax rate. The increase isn't finalized yet, but a version of the budget including the tax hike or a lesser one will be finalized in about a month.

The board generally agrees on raising taxes for three reasons: ongoing increasing costs like pensions and health care; establishing reserve and capital projects funds, two budget features that Butler schools historically can't seem to keep; and a smattering of curriculum improvements, like textbooks, and mental health improvements, like adding more therapists.

The lone holdout “no” vote came from director Bill Halle. Halle agreed to raise taxes, but didn't want a proposed budget to include the maximum allowed increase without another working meeting on the topic.

“I'm not saying I'm going to vote not to raise any taxes, I'm saying I'd like to have a discussion and have more planning and more understanding, especially when we're talking about a max (increase),” Halle said.

He also said he's hesitant to have a discussion about taxes before establishing how much they may save off further school reconfigurations, like closing the middle school.

His stance and vote bothered fellow directors, who say they've been discussing budgets in detail for months.

Jennifer Cummings, board vice president, said she hears the same demands from Halle every year toward the end of budget sessions and doesn't know what more can be done. When he mentioned saving money by closing a building, she responded that their previous consolidation efforts saved little, if any, cash.

Director Gary Shingleton took a similar tone, saying that Halle “sounds like our state Legislature.”

“Do you want to borrow $10 million, 10 years from now?” Shingleton said. “We don't have to. We could cut a check if we had done the right thing last year. Now, it's still not too late.”

To that, Halle said: “I don't think you've heard me for the past eight years.”

“Oh, I think I have,” Shingleton said.

Director Suzie Bradrick, too, sounded frustrated.

“You keep changing the bar, I don't understand,” Bradrick said. “Well, there's an election.”

The administrators running the meeting sought to diffuse the tension. Superintendent Brian White said to look for common ground: Everyone wants to balance short-term improvements with long-term debt mitigation. The district has more than $131 million in outstanding debt, of which over $45 million is interest.

White showed a spreadsheet Monday night that demonstrates a means to eventually eliminate that debt. With the proposed tax increase, his figures still don't see existing debt vanishing until 2036.

“We're like a big funnel in Butler right now,” White said. “Our population is shrinking. But the debt service hasn't shrunk with it. So that means fewer people are carrying more of the load.”

Nina Teff, board president, suggested that itemizing what they're planning on doing with the tax increases may resolve Halle's worries. Business director Nick Morelli backed up her point.

“What about full-day kindergarten?” Morelli said. “Where did that come from? Did you have a line-item in your budget for that? No. We made that work for your curriculum. We do that daily. We vet every decision.”

Board members plan to discuss next week and likely in further meetings whether they want to finalize the budget with the full tax increase in their proposal.