By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The Barton Community College Board of Trustees approved a budget that anticipates collecting $506,365 in additional tax dollars in the 2024 fiscal year compared to the year prior.
To collect the same amount of tax dollars as last year, the college was presented a Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) of 27.959. The Trustees approved a budget exceeding the RNR by setting their mill levy at 29.380.
RELATED STORY: Barton CC seeking to soften budget deficit with 2024 mill levy
Barton Vice President of Administration Mark Dean said Senate Bill 13
requires that Barton County be notified when the college intends to set their
mill levy over the RNR.
"Estimated valuation is mainly due to real estate increases and oil and gas increases," said Dean. "The mill levy is based on the valuation number the county gave us on June 20. That is only an estimate."
Barton Community College is expected to collect more than $10 million in taxes
for the 2024 fiscal year. Barton pulled a 30.081 mill levy during the 2022-2023
school year.
"Prior to SB13, the board attempted to keep the mill levy the same all the time," said Dean. "We basically rode the highs and lows of the valuation."