Hannibal School Board increases operating tax levy nearly 15 percent

HANNIBAL, Mo. — After spirited discussion at Tuesday’s meeting, the Hannibal School Board voted 4-3 in favor of an operating tax levy increase from $3.04 to $3.49 per $100.

Tysa Coleman, J’Nelle Lee, Blane Mundle, and Stacey Graves voted in favor of the 14.8 percent increase, while Jeff Evans, Ron Greenwell, and Scott Hawes opposed the measure.

“It is very meaningful for the district,” Hannibal School District Superintendent Susan Johnson said of the increase. “The motion that was voted on and approved by the board tonight is going to allow us to have more revenue for our operations. With expenses going up the way they have, it’s going to allow us to have the revenues needed to be able to provide a quality education for our students.”

While Johnson didn’t know exactly how the board would vote, she was pleased with the result.

“I was hopeful that this would be the outcome,” Johnson said. “I knew it wouldn’t be a 7-0 vote, but I was hopeful that it would pass. I was prepared for the worst, but I was hoping for the best.”

Johnson said the tax increase, along with budget cuts, will help alleviate a $3.3 million deficit that was projected in March.

During the public comments portion of the meeting, several attendees expressed their outlook on the possibility of a tax rate increase.

“I don’t care who your voters were. You no longer represent your voters,” parent Cory Combs said to the board. “You’re here now with the responsibility to this school district. I’m sorry that you made promises to not raise taxes. It doesn’t matter anymore. Your responsibility now is to this school district and the future of our children.”

Hannibal resident Jeremy Ferris encouraged the board to consider the families struggling to make ends meet.

“What about all the single mothers out there who are trying to go to school and struggling?” Ferris said. “It’s not about what Hannibal High School wants. It’s about the children and about the parents. The taxes aren’t going to hurt my family because my God is my supplier, but think about the ones that are hurting. Please be mindful of them. Again, I’m good, but I want to be the voice for those who aren’t.”

Chris Combs emphasized the necessity of this tax increase to enable the school district to continue to provide the tools for children to thrive.

“I’m hearing, I’m reading ‘Where’d all the money go? How’d we lose all this money? What happened?’ Yada, yada, yada,” Combs said. “My reply is ‘It has all been explained.’ All you have to do is dig in and read the reports — why the budget shortfall, why the next budget and this tax increase affects the next school year’s budget. 

All you have to do is do your research. I hear too much parroting all the other negative comments that people are hearing and a lot of people not taking enough time to do their research. That’s all it takes, and you will understand why it is necessary to raise the property taxes. The economic situation we are in today will not allow us to continue to give a quality education to the children of Hannibal without more money. Nobody wants to pay more taxes, but you have to sometimes to get the quality of service that you want.”

Following public comments and the reading of the resolution, board member Jeff Evans made a motion to preserve the operating tax levy rollback and keep the tax rate the same. Scott Hawes seconded Evans’ motion, which failed to pass. The same four board members who voted in favor of the tax increase voted against Evans’ motion.

After Hawes’ second, Graves said it simply wasn’t feasible for the district to keep the tax rate where it was.

“I feel that that would be a grievous thing to happen,” Graves said. “I don’t think we could recover from that. There has been no hidden agenda as far as our finances. I just keep hearing false claims come up over and over again, and I just don’t understand it. It’s not that we haven’t been privy to all the information because we have. It’s not any wrongdoing. It’s just that we probably shouldn’t have been rolling back in previous years like we’ve been doing, and it’s gotten us in this situation. The cost of everything has gone up. It’s gone up for the school as well as the public.”

Evans responded by pointing to a better management of the budget that could eliminate the need for a tax rate increase.

“We can keep offloading some of the rightsizing of the district by increasing taxes and things, but at some point there is going to come a reckoning,” Evans said. “Not only do we need to just have a balanced budget that reflects the revenues that we’re receiving, but we also need to spend less than we receive for a while to replenish those reserves.”

More than 20 minutes of back-and-forth discussion ensued regarding the use of COVID relief funds and the specific promises the board made to not change the debt service levy, ending in a vote to increase the operating tax levy.

The debt service levy remained at $1.12 per $100 of assessed property value.