With much less fanfare than a year ago, the Kingfisher County Excise Board voted last Wednesday to pass the estimate of needs for Kingfisher Public Schools.

The move will signal a tax increase for property owners within the school district, though school leaders say they’re working on a method to avoid future increases.

Approved by Excise Board Chairman Michelle Miller and members Jimmy Berkenbile and Jim Wittrock were 36 mills in the general fund, 26 mills in the sinking fund and 5 mills in the building fund.

For the general fund, that equates to $11.93 million, a figure that was approved by the district’s board of education last month.

The estimate of needs is part of the budget-making process that each school district is required to have prepared and approved. It shows an itemized estimate of proposed expenditures and revenues for the year.

Once approved by a district’s school board, it must then go before the excise board for approval.

Such a process generally receives little attention and moves smoothly, but that wasn’t the case in 2024.

That was the first of a three-year stretch in which the district would have to pay the remainder of a $5 million settlement that resulted from a civil lawsuit brought against it by Mason Mecklenburg.

In each of those three years, KPS is required to pay Mecklenburg $1.25 million plus interest.

Those funds are required to come from the sinking fund, which is funded by ad valorem taxes (property taxes).

After multiple meetings last year, including some public outcry about the potential of increased property taxes to pay for the settlement, the excise board ultimately voted to amend the district’s estimate of needs from 36 mills to 20.59 mills.

That was a decrease from the $16.2 million presented to the excise board to $14.2 million.

That meant no property tax increase, but it also led to a reduction in force by the school district last December.

The district let go more than 20 employees in order to fall in line with the amended numbers.

The $16.2 million that sent to the excise board in 2024 was considerably less than the $23.4 million that was approved by the excise board the year before.

This year’s number is some $11 million less than two years ago, which was part of a presentation made by KPS Superintendent Andy Evans and board of education member Brad Wittrock at last Wednesday’s meeting.

Charts and figures showed the district’s projected expenditures for this fiscal year are just over $12 million, which is more than $10 million less than two years ago when it peaked at $22.2 million.

The district’s salaries were $10.1 that year and projected to cost $7.8 this year.

Burdens were at $3.7 million compared to a projected $1.9 million this year.

Services and supplies also are projected to have significant drops totaling nearly $6 million between the two.

“Brad Wittrock and Mr. Evans provided very informative documentations to the board on past and current years of budgets, allowing the board to see that they are trying to work on making changes,” said Emily Lee, the Kingfisher County clerk who also serves as the secretary to the excise board. “The board was appreciative of the information and the communication with the board.”

Added Evans: “We appreciate the diligence the excise board showed in their approach to our estimate of needs.”

However, Evans said it’s not lost on him or school board members that property taxes will increase this year to fund this portion of the settlement payment.

The exact hit to property owners was still being determined by county officials at press time.

“I understand the complaints and we are working to remedy the situation,” Evans said.

“I’m not a fan of paying taxes either.”

As Evans alluded, the district is making moves to avoid another increase next fiscal year, which would be the final installment of the settlement.

The district makes its settlement payments each year to First United Bank.

“We have begun negotiations with First United Bank to purchase the settlement,” Evans said. “These are in the early stages of discussions. Our goal is to remove the judgment from the tax rolls in the next fiscal year.

“We will be discussing this in board meetings over the coming months and are hopeful that we get this accomplished.”