Are Whitnall Taxes Going Up?

The owner of a $200,000 home in the Whitnall School District portion of Franklin, Hales Corners or Greenfield will pay $1,892 a year in school taxes in 2012.

Sound familiar? It should, because it’s the exact same amount homeowners with homes of that value paid a year ago.

On Monday, the Whitnall School Board unanimously approved a tax levy of $15,542,825, a zero-percent increase from last year’s levy and 4875,000 less than the district was allowed to levy according to the state revenue limit formula.

“I think the board felt an obligation to have a budget with no levy increase,” district business manager Doug Johnson told the audience at Whitnall’s annual meeting.

Two variables are still in play, Johnson said: the state’s equalization of aid final tally announced next month and the final third Friday enrollment count. That date passed Sept. 21.

“The projections we used assume the enrollment will be flat,” Johnson said. “The ladies that do the work were still crunching the numbers today. We’re hoping it’s at least flat, if not going up. We went up last year and hope that continues, but we can’t really control it.

“Either way, the board is committed to the levy of $15.5 million, which is exactly what last year’s was.”