Our school district, like every other school district, spends nearly all of its money on two things:
- The cost of construction, major maintenance and improvements to the buildings, structures, and facilities, funded by Bond Levies.
- The cost of compensation and benefits for the team of 1,700 teachers, administrators, and staff. This is funded by Operating Levies.
Currently 88% of our total operating expenditure is on the compensation and benefits of our employees. This number has been growing aggressively. In 2006, the total spending for compensation and benefits was $114 million. By 2008, it had grown to $128 million, and is projected to reach $163 million by 2013. This is a dollar increase of $49 million, equaling an annualized growth rate of 5.25%.**
By comparison, everything else in the annual operating budget grows from $17.5 million in 2006 to $21.1 million in 2013, an annualized growth rate of 2.67%.
By 2013, compensation and benefits are projected to be 89% of the total operating budget.
We are not unique in this concern. Please visit our friends in Worthington and New Albany to read about their efforts to educate their communities about the impact of personnel costs on the sustainability of their school districts and communities.* A number of government agencies are funded with your property taxes. The exact list varies depending on which municipality you live in. For example, residents of the City of Hilliard, Norwich Township and Brown Township all receive their Fire/EMS protection from the Norwich Township Fire Department, and those residents pay for this service via their property taxes. In contrast, residents of the City of Columbus receive their Fire/EMS service from the Columbus Fire Department, which is funded by income taxes. Therefore, residents of the City of Columbus pay less in total property taxes than most other residents of the Hilliard City School District.
But please be clear on this: All property owners within the Hilliard City School District pay exactly the same millage for school tax, regardless of the municipality in which they live. Many people in our community have been confused about this over the years, in part because some real estate agents touted "Hilliard Schools, Columbus taxes!" in order to help sell homes in the City of Columbus.
** source: HCSD Five Year Forecast revised May 2009. The latest Five Year Forecast can be found here.
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