St. Helens budget committee approves $71.66 million budget, sets tax rate; members warned of July deadlines and staffing impacts

The St Helens School District Budget Committee approved the district's proposed budgets for the 2025-26 fiscal year and voted to set the district's permanent tax levy at $5.0297 per $1,000 of assessed value and the general obligation bond levy at $5,486,000.

Dr. Gray, answering questions from the committee and public, told the committee that the district faces a roughly $6.2 million shortfall and stressed the legal deadlines driving the timetable: "If we don't adopt the budget by June 30, we have no budget to operate on as of July 1," she said, warning that missing the county filing deadline would risk the district's ability to collect property taxes for the 2025-26 school year. "If our adopted budget is not into the county by July 15, we forego all property taxes for the 25-26 school year."

Why it matters: the committee was asked to approve a package of budgets totaling $71,662,276 so the board can hold the required budget hearing and adopt the budget before state deadlines. Committee members and staff described immediate, concrete consequences if the board could not complete those steps on schedule, including the potential for staff layoffs and a disruption to operations on July 1.

The budgets and levy - The motion approved by the committee set the 2025-26 general fund at $40,490,302; special revenue funds at $11,712,274; debt service funds at $8,890,800; capital projects at $10,570,000; for a total of $71,662,276. - The committee also approved the property tax permanent rate of $5.0297 per $1,000 of assessed value and a general-obligation bond levy of $5,486,000.

District leaders' explanation of the shortfall and staffing actions Dr. Gray and Christy Woodward (business department) responded at…