The Pleasant Valley School Board approved a 2% tax increase at their meeting Thursday night.

The increase will bring the tax levy to 24.8597 mills for the property tax with an Act 511 Earned Income Tax of 0.5% and Real Estate Transfer Tax of .5%.

Business manager Michael Simonetta said the increase would result in an additional $68 on the average assessed house in the school district. The average assessment on homes in the Pleasant Valley School District is $139,000.

Simonetta said each percentage point will generate $1 million for the district, so the 2% increase will generate $2 million.

“The tax levy is to balance the budget,” he said.

Simonetta explained that as part of the budget, the district is setting money aside to help cover the costs of the upcoming improvement projects to the schools. The district intends to start with the high school.

The total estimated fund balance including revenues and sources of financing equal $123.4 million, according to the school district’s final budget for 2023-2024.

School board director Todd Kresge asked if they could consider a smaller tax increase.

“It’s hard to adjust now,” Simonetta said.

Simonetta said that a lower tax levy should have been brought up when the preliminary budget was proposed.

Director Norm Burger said that by building up the money needed for the improvement projects, it can help put the school district on a stable financial footing. This could help in obtaining a lower interest rate when they go to borrow money for the project. He equated it to having a larger down payment when a person goes to buy a house.

In an interview, Superintendent James Konrad said the school district is looking to borrow $100 million to cover the improvement projects throughout the school district.

“About $80 million would go into the high school renovation project, and the other money would go toward supporting the other buildings in the district,” Konrad said.

In order to cover everything that is projected as needing fixed, upgraded or improved, it would cost $179 million. This is not something the school district plans to do, he said.

“We do believe we can upgrade and fix troubled areas throughout our other district buildings,” Konrad said.