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WEST JORDAN -- The Jordan Board of Education now has a year to figure out how to plug a $19-$20 million hole.
Superintendent Barry Newbold said he couldn't comment on whether or not taxes will be raised next year too, but he did say this: "The board did not raise taxes to legal maximum, so there is room there for that to happen. But I certainly think the board will be very cautious about doing that, and wouldn't rule that out, but I don't think it would be high on their priority list at this point."
Newbold says this year was the perfect storm of bad news.
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West-side taxpayers protested a proposed 40 percent tax increase at a public hearing last week. On Tuesday, at another public meeting, the board decided to cut that tax increase in half."We have revenue losses from state and federal sources, property values are down; and looking at services year over year, the division of the school district has also reduced revenue," he said.
Newbold doesn't know what next year will bring.
"We have to identify $19-$20 million in cuts for next year, and that's just to break even. What we don't know is the uncertainty of what state cuts will do to education next year," he said.
Newbold says the split of the Jordan School District isn't entirely to blame for these current problems. He says 8 million dollars of Jordan's deficit is related to the split. The budget includes 19 to 20 million dollars coming out of the reserve.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
