Ottawa High School’s board plans to ask for $17.3 million in property taxes next year. That’s up 5.3% from the $16.4 million received this year. It includes money collected for debt payments. Not counting that money, the increase is from less than $13.8 million to $14.6 million. That increase is 6.2%, enough to require a truth-in-taxation hearing at the next school board meeting on December 19th.
School and local government officials like to point out that even though property tax levies go up, no one can be sure what that means for one person’s or one business’s tax bill until numerous things are considered including a property’s assessed value. Some tax payers may actually pay less.