- The red line indicates how inflation has grown since 1995. This has been a steady increase. The average rate of inflation in the 1990’s was 3% and the average rate of inflation in the 2000’s has been 2.78%. It takes $146.58 today to buy what $100 purchased in 1995.
- The blue line indicates how Kettering Schools per pupil expense has grown since 1995. In 1995, the per pupil expense in Kettering was $5875, in 2008 it was $11,078. This overall increase has been significantly higher than inflation. Some of this increase has come from state and federal money. I need to make more charts to show a more complete picture.
- The green line shows how the total property tax base has grown since 1995. The tax base peaked in 2005, at $1,453 million, and since then has steadily decreased. Since 2005, the decrease in the total tax base has been about $93 million. The total tax base in Ketttering in 2008 was $1,360 million. The increase in the tax base is less than the inflation rate. A decrease in total tax base means that the effective property tax rate must increase in order to collect the same revenue. As the green line goes down, the gold line must go up. Kettering’s $102 million bond levy, approved in 2002, last year required 3.6 mills to make interest and principal payments. This year 4.5 mills was required in order to make the interest and principal payments.
- The gold line indicates how the effective property tax rate for Kettering Schools has grown since 1995. After 1995, the effective property tax rate for Kettering Schools decreased for four years and then increased. The effective tax rate in 1995 was 30.84 mills and, six years later, the effective tax rate in 2001 at 30.20 mills was .64 mills less than the 1995 amount. The rate in 2008 is now 41.14 mills The increase in effective property tax rates in Kettering has been less than inflation.
The chart below shows the data that was graphed and shows a curved “trend” line for each line graph. Inflation, per pupil expenses, and effective tax rate in Kettering Schools are trending upward. Kettering’s total tax base is trending downward.
