Jacksonville School District 117 has seen an increase in sales tax revenue as the district continues to make good on a promise to the community to use that revenue for building improvements, including the new Murrayville-Woodson school.
At the district board meeting Wednesday night, School superintendent Steve Ptacek put a heavy emphasis on the fact that the new building projects are being paid for with all sales tax revenue, and not property tax. Ptacek said using sales tax revenue for these upgrades was a promise the district made to the community that dates back to 2014. “I want to clarify when people talk about these new buildings and property tax, every payment that has been made on every facility we have upgraded, that’s all been done with sales tax revenue,” Ptacek says. “In 2014 we passed that sales tax with a 60% vote by this community to upgrade these facilities, and that’s what we’ve been using the sales tax for; doing what the community has told us to do.” He says most people understand how the building projects are being funded, but there are still those who have created their own narrative.
Ptacek added that with the sales tax increase has made it possible to finish the Murrayville-Woodson project without having to dip into the district’s fund balance. When it comes to property tax rates for the state of Illinois, he’s been doing his research, and the superintendent says he’s willing to release that information to anyone that should inquire. “I did a comparison of 81 districts that actually look at the property tax bill paid by community members in Jacksonville and 80 other communities. It showed that two-thirds of those communities have a higher property tax rate, school district tax rate than Jacksonville school district,” Ptacek said. “If anyone has any questions about that I will sit down with anyone, and show that data,” he added. “I plan on showing that at clubs, organizations, and throughout the community over the next few months.”
As far as federal funding goes, JSD 117 has seen a reduction. Ptacek says they’ve seen a decrease of at least 600 thousand in federal dollars so far, but again he pointed to the district having a very sizeable fund balance that will help weather the storm.