ENID — Enid voters will go to the polls Feb. 9 to decide the fate of the bond issue to build two new schools and make additional renovations to other buildings and school facilities. The issue requires a 60 percent vote in favor for passage.

School officials are comparing Enid to 10 districts closest to Enid in size — five larger and five smaller.

What their figures show is Enid’s sinking fund is one of the lowest compared to these other districts.

Enid’s valuation for 2009 taxes was $217,139,399 or 13.29 mills, for education funding. Of school districts most patrons would compare with Enid — Bartlesville, Muskogee, Stillwater and Ponca City — Enid’s millage for education is the lowest. Next is Muskogee at 16.61 mills. Bartlesville’s millage is at 24.35, Stillwater’s is at 23.2 and Ponca City’s is at 22.

The five larger districts of Norman, Jenks, Owasso, Mustang and Yukon average 27.67 for their millage rates. The five smaller districts range from 16.61 mills to 28.51 mills for Sand Springs, for an average among the five districts of 22.93.

Enid Superintendent Shawn Hime wants to bring Enid’s millage levy for education facility improvement up to about 25 mills — and keep it that way. The $99.5 million bond issue gets close, making Enid’s millage rate just under 25 mills if the bond issue passes.

Why is it important to Enid Public Schools officials to get to this number?

“In order for us to make improvements, we have to move in steps,” Hime said.

The school districts that have performed regular bond issues have found a “comfort level” for taxes for their communities. But, they’ve done it by keeping capital improvement projects ongoing. Thus, when they call a bond issue every two or three years, it doesn’t raise the property taxes for those communities, he said.

“We have to get the tax rate to a certain level, then continue to pass bond issues and keep that tax rate leveled,” Hime said.

School officials say Enid has been hampered in passing bond issues because they let too many years go by without passing bond issues for capital improvements. The larger the gap gets, the harder it is to pass bond issues. The longer the district waits between bond issues, the more expensive the bond issues get, Hime said.

How are property

taxes assessed?



Wade Patterson, Gar-field County assessor, says property tax assessments on homes don’t really change much year to year unless a home is undervalued. If a home is undervalued, the maximum increase of the assessed value on the property would be 5 percent.

Patterson said many property owners think their property taxes are automatically raised 5 percent every year; however, he said that is not true.

Even if a property value goes up just $1, that property owner would get a change of assessment notice, Patterson said. He said about 7,500 properties get an increase between 1 and 5 percent.

Patterson doesn’t have an exact amount for the average tax assessment on a home in Enid; however, taking all the valuations of Enid, he provided the school district with an “average” increase number of $7.29 a month if the bond issue passes. That would be for about a $70,000 house, Patterson said.

However, he said the bulk of the homes in Enid are valued between $75,000 and $125,000.

Patterson estimated there are about 30,000 parcels of property in the city limits of Enid.

Enid property tax money currently funds four taxing entities — Garfield County, city of Enid, Autry Technology Center and Enid Public Schools. Figures presented by financial consultant Stephen H. McDonald Associates Inc. show taxpayers currently pay 97.98 mills total, although Patterson uses the figure of 95.98 mills in making his estimates.

If the bond issue passes, the financial consultant assumes the city, county and technology center millages will remain the same, but the Enid Public Schools millage will go up 11.67 mills for 2010-11. That would increase the four entities to a total of 108.76, or a general increase of 12 percent.



What will the cost be

to property owners?



Using Patterson’s numbers, and assuming most properties are valued between $75,000 and $125,000 in Enid, the typical increase in taxes will be between $10 and $16 extra a month for a great number of Enid homeowners.

In the materials provided by the school district, an “Impact to Taxpayers” table shows projected tax amounts and monthly and annual increases based on certain amounts of property taxes property owners paid in 2009.

Those numbers range from 25 cents monthly for someone who paid as low as $100 in property taxes. Someone who paid $1,000 in property taxes in 2009 would pay about $10.02 more monthly to pay for the bond issue. Carrying that table farther, if someone is paying $2,000 in property taxes this year, that person would pay $2,240 next year, and someone paying $3,000 in property taxes in 2009 will pay $3,360 in 2010-11.

“If you forgot everything else and compare apples to apples with mill levies, your mill levy for a city of our size is one of the lowest in the state,” Patterson said. “Most everyone else is well above 100. We’re at 95.85 mills.”