School board rejects veterans tax break

DUNDEE--The Dundee school board voted against approving a school tax exemption for veterans during their regular meeting Thursday, Jan. 8. The decision came in a four to two vote against the resolution, which would have granted veterans different degrees of exemption qualifications for combat zone, non-combat and disabled veterans. Board members Paul Brown and Jared Webster were the only votes in favor of the resolution. Board member Matthew Camacho did not attend the meeting.

"Although I do support it, as a veteran, I can't vote for it," board member John Frederick said. "I think we are burdening our current taxpayers more and more each time."
Board member James Hill, also a veteran, said veterans have access to a great number of funded programs through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) if they choose to use them. He added approving this resolution would just ask their neighbors to pick up an extra cost for them.
"It is very difficult to decide," School Board President James Koehler said. "We had a public hearing a year ago on this issue. Our first priority is providing the best possible education for students. By doing this, we make it that much harder to fund what we need to do."
While approving the exemption would not affect the tax levy, it would require those who do not qualify for the exemption to pay a higher tax rate to make up the difference. This was estimated to result in a tax rate increase of 14 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for all those who are not exempt in the district. Had it been approved, this exemption would have been applied for the 2015-16 school tax year.
More than 40 people had attended a public hearing on the issue in November of last year, many of whom were veterans. Of the many who spoke, only two had spoken against approving the veterans school tax exemption, while a majority of those who attended had spoken in support of the measure.