OGDEN — The proposed Ogden School District tax hike aims to generate extra funding largely for special education programs, according to a school official.

Ogden School District is one of several Weber County taxing entities seeking a property tax hike to bolster funding as part of budgeting for the 2023-2024 year. The 5.32% increase, if approved, would help generate $47.79 million in property taxes for the district, up $2.42 million from the $45.37 million it would otherwise be able to tap.

Ogden school board members have final say on the matter and they’re to hold a public hearing on the issue Aug. 17.

A small portion of the $2.42 million in extra money, about $140,000, would go for ongoing capital project funding, according to Zane Woolstenhulme, the district’s business administrator. The rest, some $2.3 million, would help shore up an expected shortfall in funding for special education programming in Ogden schools.

Special education funding, geared to students with a range of disabilities, is “on a deficit trajectory due to higher-than-anticipated program costs and declining funding streams to that program,” he said.

The proposed increase comes on top of a property tax hike approved by Ogden school officials last year. The 2022 hike — meant largely to help boost the pay of teachers — bolstered the amount of taxes the district could collect from $38.91 million to $44.07 million, a 13.26% jump.

State law allows for increases in property taxes from year to year to reflect new growth within the boundaries of a taxing entity, like a county, city or school district. But to increase taxes beyond that — as proposed in the Ogden and Weber school districts and three Weber County cities — the taxing units must hold truth-in-taxation hearings to first let the public sound off. The Ogden School District hearing is schedule for 7 p.m. Aug. 17 at district headquarters, 1950 Monroe Blvd.

Though tax increases can cause grumbling among some, Woolstenhulme said he hasn’t received any public feedback so far on the Ogden School District proposal. “To this point, I have not been made aware of any public reaction to the tax rate proposal,” he said.

The Ogden School District share of overall school taxes would result in a bill for the owner of a home worth $406,000, the average in Ogden, 0f $1,220.56, up from $1,158.93 at the rate allowed by the state without a truth-in-taxation hearing.

Property owners also pay state and charter school taxes, though, and Woolstenhulme noted that factoring those into the overall public school tax bill for an average Ogden homeowner results in a decline in taxes versus 2023.

The average Ogden home was worth $410,000 in 2022, and with an overall public school tax rate of 0.007033 that year — the Ogden, state and charter school rates added together — the school tax that year for such a home was $1,585.94. The average Ogden home for 2023 is worth $406,000 and with an overall proposed tax rate of 0.007015 this year, the school taxes on such a dwelling would total $1,566.45, a dip of $19.49.

Aside from the two school districts, South Ogden, North Ogden, Harrisville and the North View Fire District are also proposing tax hikes. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and the Central Weber Sewer Improvement District are also seeking tax increases.

Newsletter