What does a 22 mill bond rate mean for your property taxes?

By Beverly Bryant/News Director

Voters in the Ponca City School district will vote Tuesday, Oct. 13, on two bond proposals.

The first proposal is for a $1 million transportation bond to be used to purchase nine new buses.

The second proposal is for $37,225,000 in building bonds to make improvements to Lincoln, East, West and Ponca City High School, for security and energy efficiency, technology and improvements to district athletic and fine arts facilities.

The Ponca City School Board structured this bond issue to maintain the 22 mill levy cap on the sinking fund mill. This means taxes for the schools will remain the same as they have been since 2000.

But what, exactly, does a 22 mill bond issue mean to property owners?

The Kay County Assessor’s Office helped explain the formula. First, there will not be an increase in the school’s sinking fund mill levy cap of 22 mills. This bond issue is structured to stay within this cap, so the tax will stay at the same level it has been.

To figure out how much the bond issue will cost a homeowner, the assessor’s office starts with the fair market value of the property. The assessor’s office starts with the fair market value of the property, and verifies with an inspection every few years to make sure the fair market value matches what the assessor sees in person.

Kay County has an 11 percent assessment ratio. Each county decides what its assessment ratio will be, between 11 percent and 13.5 percent.

The second part of the formula is to multiply the assessed value by the assesment ratio (.11). The assessed value includes the land’s value; the assessed value of improvements such as houses and other buildings. Each part of the property is assessed and then added together for a single assessed value.

Property taxes are an important source of revenue for local schools, vocational education, libraries, and city and county government. Generally, local schools receive the largest share of the property tax.

Once the assessed value is determined, that number is multiplied by another number, the total mill levy for each school district in the county. For fiscal year 2014, the total mill levy for the Ponca City Public Schools district was 99.47 percent. This number represents the total amount a property owner will pay for property taxes in their school district.

The total mill levy for fiscal year 2015 has not been determined yet. It should be set by the end of October or early November.

Multiply by mill levy according to school district. That is where the taxes can be higher in some school districts. Whatever the assessed value times the mill levy gives you your tax bill.

Here’s a mathmatical example that will show how much a property owner’s taxes will be:

If the taxpayer owns a home valued at $70,000

$70,000 x 11 percent = $7,700 (This is the fair market or assessed market value multiplied by the Ponca City School District’s assessment ratio)

This is the total assessed value of the property.

$7,700 x .09947 total mill levy for the Ponca City’s school district = property tax of $766. This rounds up or down to the closest dollar.

Of that property tax amount, the 22 mills for the school bond would be $169 on this $70,000 property.

(Information provided by the Kay County Assessor’s Office)