Although property owners in Kingfisher Public Schools’ district will see an increase in ad valorem taxes on their next bill, the school district is working to keep it from happening beyond that.

The board of education on Monday authorized Superintendent Andy Evans to negotiate with First United Bank of Norman to purchase the remainder of the settlement the district owes that was a result of the civil lawsuit brought against it by Mason Mecklenburg.

“This has taken a lot of work to get here,” said Evans during Monday night’s October board meeting.

Evans had discussed the possibility of this action with the board during last month’s meeting.

The district agreed to a $5 million settlement with Mecklenburg in December 2023. He filed the suit in 2021 and alleged he was subjected to hazing and abuse while a member of the KHS football team.

It required the district to pay Mecklenburg $1.25 million within 90 days of the agreement and then $1.25 million plus interest from the district’s sinking fund once a year for three years.

One of those payments was made earlier this year and the next installment is due in February.

The sinking fund is comprised of ad valorem taxes paid by landowners in the district, meaning an increase in those taxes to cover the costs.

“The primary goal in completing this purchase is to remove the judgment prior to the calculations due in 2027,” Evans said.

Evans has already had some primary discussions with the bank along with the school’s auditor - Britton, Kuykendall & Miller CPAs of Weatherford - and The Center for Education Law, which provides legal services for the district.

“The reason is, we want to do this correctly,” Evans said in working with the two firms.

He told the board the current amount due is about $2 million plus interest.

“We will receive enough revenue in the sinking fund and general fund to complete this proposed purchase in January or February,” Evans said.

Part of the negotiations, said Evans, would be the interest amount.

“We are expecting to pay somewhere between three and six months’ interest on the purchase,” he said.

However, added Evans, getting the settlement off the tax rolls was a goal in working the district’s budget.

“I want to make one thing very clear,” he said. “We built our revenue and expenditure budget toward this goal and we wanted to make sure that we were able to afford this.”

Voting in favor of the move were board members Brad Wittrock, Bill Reitz and Charles Walker.

Dana Golbek and Mike Copeland were unable to attend the meeting.

Wittrock voted against the settlement agreement when it was approved by the board in 2023.

He also worked to find solutions to avoid the judgment landing on the tax rolls.

“I think it’s responsible for our side to do our part to eliminate this for next year,” Wittrock said.