School Town of Highland

HIGHLAND CLARIFICATION EXPLANATION click for a good visual explanation

The Ballot Question:

Shall the School Town of Highland increase property taxes paid to the School Corporation by homeowners and businesses for eight (8) years immediately following the holding of the referendum for the purpose of funding staff retention and recruitment, school safety and security programs, and maintaining educational programming? If this public question is approved by the voters, the average property tax paid to the School Corporation per year on a residence would increase by 56.08% and the average property tax paid to the School Corporation per year on a business property would increase by 51.86%.”

The Ballot Question will need clarification to understand what it is stating. It is a percentage based on the increase of the School’s portion of the tax bill not a 56.08% increase of the total tax bill. Please see the following example based on the Average Homestead Value (as certified by the Lake County Auditor):

With this example, the average home value is $187,896, after the County applies the deductions and the credits shown above, the School’s portion of the tax bill is $530.68. Should the referendum be approved, the School would receive an additional $297.59 which is 56.08% of the original amount of $530.68.

The homeowner’s total tax bill was $1,878.93 before the proposed operating referendum. The proposed increase would be the same  $297.59. If you compare the amount of increase to the total tax bill prior to the referendum, the percent of increase of the total tax bill is 15.84%