Wednesday, October 29, 2008 --- 10:50 a.m.

The Madison Metropolitan School District has announced that the
school portion of the local property tax will be lower than anticipated
in 2008-09.

The drop in the rate translates to an anticipated savings of $67.50
in 2008-09 for a home assessed at $250,000.

“What this means is that property tax rates will be lower because
the overall district property values have increased more than we
originally expected, while building the 2008-09 budget estimates,”
according to Superintendent Dan Nerad.

“The referendum on November 4, 2008 is still necessary to avoid
$8.1 million of reductions to direct programs to students within the
classroom for the 2009-10 school year,” according to Nerad. “This
positive news simply reduces the school portion of individual property
tax bills beginning in the 2008 tax year. The Madison School District
would still need permission to go above state imposed revenue limits on
property tax increases to meet increasing annual expenditures such as
utilities, transportation, and employee compensation increases guided by
state law.”