By Derrick ForsytheRecord Staff WriterThe Wright City R-II School Board voted last week to increase the district’s property tax levy for the current fiscal year.The board voted unanimously in favor of setting the tax levy at $4.3259, including debt service, from the previous year’s rate of $4.1925.The vote was taken during the board’s monthly meeting Aug. 27.The tax rate for operations calculates out at $3.1259 per $100 of assessed valuation compared to the prior year’s rate of $3.0985.As has been the case over the past seven years, Wright City still has a lower tax levy than any of the five school districts that border it. R-II also is under the state expected levy of $3.43.“The state sets a state adequacy target in the formula for our funding,” explained Superintendent David Buck. “It is the amount they state is required to fund and education per child.“They see it as a shared responsibility, and states that districts should have a minimum of $3.4300 operation levy for their share,” he said. “They thus deduct what each district should receive if they had a $3.4300 for their assessed valuation from that target. This is what they deem is local responsibility.“We are under that amount. Wright City does not collect over half a million dollars annually that the formula assumes we are contributing to meet the state adequacy target.”By comparison, all five of the neighboring districts collect that expected local contribution or even additional.The total assessed valuation minus new construction is $179,296.30 — a decrease of 1.2654 percent. In contrast, the state consumer price index (CPI), as certified by the state tax commission, rose by 0.8000 percent.R-III establishes tax levyThe Warren County R-III School District also met Aug. 27 to set its new tax levy, increasing that figure $0.0354 from last year.The board voted to raise the levy to $4.1799 from the $4.1445 figure that was established last year.The district saw an increase of $2,440,933 in assessed valuation, rising to $267,637,410. The assessed valuation for 2014 was $265,196,477.The district will levy a ceiling of $3.5495 for operations, which includes the general fund, teachers fund and capital projects fund. Last year’s operating levy was $3.5256. This was an increase of $0.0239.To put the numbers into perspective, a residence with a market value of $100,000 would be assessed at 19 percent, which would place its assessed value at $19,000. The homeowner would seen an increase of $6.73, or 56 cents per month, for 2015 over the prior year.Estimated revenue from the new levy would be $11,186,976, an increase of $132,526 over the previous year, which also includes new construction.Tax Rates