Kirkwood board to consider budget ceiling for 2012-13

The Kirkwood Community College board of trustees on Thursday will consider a 2012-13 budget ceiling that would raise the property tax rate by 8 cents.

State law requires Kirkwood to set its "not to exceed" budget figure by March 15, but it will be several weeks before details of state appropriations are known, officials said. That means the operating budget and next year's tuition rate won't be set until there are more specifics on state funding, likely April or May, Chief Financial Officer Jim Choate said.

The trustees at a meeting Thursday will consider a budget ceiling for next year with total expenditures of $162.3 million, a $20 million increase from the current fiscal year's budget ceiling of $142.3 million. Kirkwood officials could eventually approve a lower budget -- but not a higher one -- once the budget ceiling is set. The big driver of the $20 million increase to the budget ceiling is several construction projects, including the renovation of Linn Hall and the start of work on several new regional education centers, Choate said.

The proposed $162.3 million budget ceiling includes an increase in the Kirkwood property tax levy from 99.8 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation to 1.07888 cents per $1,000, Choate said. At that new rate, the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 would pay $54.76 in Kirkwood property taxes next year, which is $6.29 more than the current year.

The change is partly due to the higher levy and partly because of the state's rollback formula, which determines the percentage of a residential property's value that's subject to taxation. Of the $6.29 expected increase for owners of a $100,000 home, $2.40 of that is due to the rollback increase, Choate said.

The operating budget, which covers salaries, delivery of education and day-to-day expenses, will be set later this spring because that hinges on state funding and tuition revenue. Kirkwood's state funding could remain the same or increase up to 6 percent, based on various proposals being considered in the Legislature, Choate said.

Tuition, which is now $128 per credit hour, likely will increase by $6 to $8 for next year, Choate said, so probably in the range of 4 percent to 6 percent.