More tax levies for Pinal schools OK’d
by Mark Cowling | Coolidge Examiner
The Pinal County Board of Supervisors approved additional property tax levy requests for local school districts to help them pay employees and bills as the new fiscal year begins.
Florence Unified School District requested more than $1.7 million, Coolidge Unified School District requested $400,000 and J.O. Combs School District requested $414,713 at the Wednesday meeting. District representatives said in their written requests that state aid was short at this time and property tax collections won’t be available to them until November.
Karla Slovitsky, Combs director of business, said her district had a decline in enrollment of approximately 130 students, and a change in state law restricted the funds the district could carry over. Beverly Myers, business manager for FUSD, said several years ago the state reduced what it owed the district by the district’s amount of cash on hand, which caused the district to lose its line of credit. She added that inadequate reserves will affect the district’s bond rating.
