The Wright City R-II School Board approved a new tax levy of $3.1543 per $100 assessed valuation for the 2017-18 fiscal year during a special session held prior to its regular meeting Aug. 17. This is an increase of .0072 cents from the previous fiscal year.The board also set a debt service levy of $1.20, which includes a voluntary rollback of .2689 cents. There is no increase over the previous year for the debt service levy.“This is a complicated formula but we only get to choose one number, so it is also a given,” said Superintendent Dr. David Buck.“The only data we don’t know is what the state assessed property — primarily railroads — amount will be in December. We simply enter what it was last December.”While the state auditors office has approved those figures, it’s possible that they may still change.“If either Warren or Lincoln County were to send us a revised assessed valuation, we would need to reconvene the board of education and vote again on a new tax rate,” said Buck.The assessed valuation of property in the district was $192,218,630. New construction comprised $5,023,823 of that.Buck says the district still has plans to build a new high school on an 85-acre plot it owns for that purpose.In Missouri schools cannot borrow more than 15 percent of their assessed valuation, forcing R-II to wait until previous obligations are met.“That means we would not have the borrowing capacity to build the high school until we pay off the middle school and East Elementary,” said Buck.“That looks to be around 2024 at the earliest. At that time, we can entertain going to the voters.”School Funding