New Hanover districts to see slight tax bump

By: Stephanie Prokop
   NEW HANOVER — Residents will see an increase in the school tax bill, but Superintendent Terri Sackett said that no programs are being cut in the budget that will go before voters on April 17.
   The total school budget for the 2007-08 school year is $5,389,879, with $1,420,116 to be raised through taxation, which will be shared by the borough of Wrightstown and New Hanover. The tax rate for each community is determined by a state equalization formula based on the amount of taxable property in each municipality.
   For New Hanover residents, this equates to a tax rate of $1.722 per $100 of assessed property value. With the average house assessed at $200,000, this spells a school tax bill of $344.40, up from the $313 bill of last year.
   For Wrightstown, at a tax rate of $1.4920, per $100 of assessed house value (and with the average house assessed at $100,000) the school tax bill comes to $149.20, about a $13 increase from last year’s $135.77 school bill.
   "We’re also upgrading our technology in our lab, so some of the costs of salaries and benefits factor into the increase," explained Ms. Sackett.
   "We also received a 5.8 percent increase in state aid, and we used some of our surplus monies to balance our budget this year," she added. The public hearing for the budget was on March 29, and voters will head to the polls on April 17.