For the Seine River School Division (SRSD) board, the question of whether to raise school taxes for the 2024–25 school year was never a question. In the face of a nearly $5 million deficit, the big decision for this board is how much to raise them.
At a public meeting held on March 12, the board voted 5–4 in favour of a school mill rate increase of 6.38 percent in the first year and 7.6 percent in the second year.
For the average homeowner with a property assessed at $350,000, this will mean an increase to their tax bill of $120.96 in year one and $153.06 in year two.
Thanks to a recent change in provincial government, school divisions across the province have been given autonomy once again to adjust school mill rates to help them better meet their budgets. For SRSD and other boards, this is a welcome change.
When asked about the alternatives to the proposed tax increase, Amanda Senkowski, the division’s chief financial officer, laid them on the table.
The board could choose to make even deeper cuts to staff and programming in year one. Rolling these cutbacks into years two and three and increasing revenue streams would be another alternative. Finally, she said, the plan to eliminate the budget could be stretched out over more than three years.
According to trustee Marinus Van Osh, this proposed tax increase, while not massive, will be enough to bring the deficit down to zero in three years as long as it’s accompanied by cuts to some programs and services.
“I just feel we need to get this over with,” Van Osch said. “Do the cuts and start moving on on a more positive path in the upcoming couple of years. I don’t want us to be looking at cuts in years two and three.”
Another trustee, Gary Nelson, held firm in his position that the division could withstand a much greater tax increase, which would reduce the need to make severe cuts to the operational budget.
In order to make that feasible, Senkowski said, it would require a 6.82 percent increase in year one and 8.1 percent in year two.
Voting in favour of the education tax increase as originally proposed were trustees Marinus Van Osch, Robert Rivard, Christine Roskos, Lise Verrier, and Warren Reavely. Standing opposed were trustees Theresa Bergson, Wendy Bloomfield, Gary Nelson, and Vicky Kiansky.
