Residents may still see an increase in the amount of property taxes they are assessed, but it will be due to an increase in their property valuation, not the tax rate, said Jake Hill, SSSD business administrator.

The board approved the change during a Truth in Taxation hearing held Aug. 12.

According to a presentation prepared for the hearing by Hill, the proposed tax rate assessed valuation of the county went up 7.98 percent this year. The SSSD tax rate has been 0.009642 every year since 2015.

By law, the district must generate the same amount of revenue in its current year as its prior year. Because county property values have gone up, the district’s tax rate would have gone down to 0.008488 this year to generate the same amount of money as last year.

At its June 10 meeting, the board determined it wanted to maintain the district tax rate at 0.009642. This required the district to hold a Truth in Taxation hearing to raise its tax levies.

There are six tax levies that combine to make up the district’s overall tax rate. Two of these levies were increased, but three others went down, enabling the district to keep its certified tax rate at 0.09642.

“The property value as a whole in the county went up, and the certified tax rate went down because it’s designed to give you the same amount of money year after year. So we wanted to keep our tax rate the exact same,” Hill said in an interview with The Pyramid newspaper.

Hill said the additional funds will be used by the district for operational expenses such as keeping and attracting high-quality teachers and staff as well as keeping up with the changing ways education is provided.

The funds are also needed for building maintenance. Four of the district’s seven schools are “approximately 40 years old, and the older buildings are in constant need of repair and maintenance,” Hill said.