By PRESS STAFF

COEUR d’ALENE — This year’s overall tax rate supporting Coeur d’Alene Public Schools will be $1.96 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value. That’s a decrease of 12%, or 27 cents per $1,000, from the previous year’s rate.

The drop in the levy rate is greater than district officials estimated last winter before voters approved an increase in the two-year Maintenance & Operating Levy. In public presentations on the levy proposal, the district projected the levy rate would decrease by 10 cents, to $2.13 per $1,000, even with the proposed $4 million annual increase in the levy.

The tax rate has dropped in response to growth in the total market value of taxable property within the district’s boundaries. The market value has grown from annexation and new construction, as well as increases in property value assessments.

District leaders set out this year to provide for the needs of the growing district without increasing the burden on taxpayers. For the levy request approved last March, the district projected that even with the $4 million increase, property owners would see little or no increase in the amount of taxes they pay to support school operations.

While some homeowners who experience steep increases in their assessments could see their annual school tax bills go up slightly, many others are expected to see a decrease in their school tax bills.

On Friday, the Board of Trustees for Coeur d’Alene Public Schools met for its annual review of student attendance recorded in the first three days of the school year. The average daily attendance was 10,824, an increase of 162 from the first three days of the 2018-19 school year. Growth in grades K-8 represent 85 percent of that increase.

State law permits school districts to certify a one-time emergency tax levy, without voter approval, to help meet classroom needs when attendance numbers are up in the first week of school. Based on this week’s average attendance, the Coeur d’Alene District qualified for emergency levy funding of up to $900,000.

The trustees agreed with a district recommendation to decline the opportunity to enact an emergency levy of any amount this year. Instead, the district will address $136,577 in critical funding need — to buy desks, chairs and tables, and increase hours for school aides — using existing general fund resources.

Enacting the emergency levy at any level — even the full $900,000 — still would have resulted in a decrease in the district’s overall tax rate.

Recognizing the generosity of voters in approving the M&O levy increase last March, trustees said it’s appropriate for the district to avoid relying on the emergency levy option this year.

“We’re being conservative and that’s a good thing,” Trustee Tom Hearn said.

Board Chairman Casey Morrisroe added, “I think it’s the right thing to do, not just for our staff and kids, but in appreciation for our community standing behind us and approving a $4 million increase in the levy.”

District leaders also acknowledge that the growing student population, full school buildings, and housing development trends are likely to lead to a proposed school construction funding measure in the next one to two years. The district has hired a consultant to analyze population and land use trends as well as facility capacities this fall, and the board’s Long-Range Planning Committee will use that data in considering new school needs this year.