Tax commissioner: December 1 education-tax outlook points to about 5.9% average property-tax increase

Tax Commissioner Craig Boelio told the House Ways and Means Committee that the statutory December 1 “education tax rate” letter projects an average increase in property tax bills of about 5.9% if the December 1 yields were implemented.

The commissioner described the December 1 product as a legally required, formulaic forecast prepared in consensus with the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO), the Agency of Education and other state fiscal staff. "I think legally, it's called the education tax rate letter, but I'm not a lawyer, so I call it the December 1 letter because it needs to be published by the tax commissioner by every December 1," Boelio said. He said the math portion of the letter is consensus-driven and prescribed by statute.

Why it matters: the projected increase is driven mainly by an estimated 6.1% rise in education spending — about $115,000,000 on the JFO table — and by the fact that last year’s package of one‑time resources that lowered rates (which the parties described together as roughly $69,000,000) is not fully available this year. "If the rates that are projected go into effect, that would be an average increase in property tax bills of 5.9%," Boelio said.

JFO analyst Julia…