Property taxes may go down next year for residents of the Eastern Iowa Community College district. Monday night, during work on next year's budget, trustees discussed an administration proposal to lower the tax rate by four cents, to 99-cents per 1,000 dollars assessed value.
Chancellor Don Doucette says it's largely due to the opening of the new urban campus in downtown Davenport, with its lower costs for maintenance and equipment.
"And so we're trading older buildings for new buildings and that's reduced our operational costs substantially. And as a result we're able to lower the property tax four cents."
The district must submit a budget to the state by March 15th, but state appropriations will not be final yet. So Doucette says this proposed budget really just sets upper spending limits for the fiscal year that begins in July.
"It is only an estimate. It is actually not a complete operational budget - there are many things yet to be decided before we get to our operational or working budget that the board will adopt in June."
State funding for the current year accounts for 38 per cent of their operating budget.
Doucette is optimistic about possible state funding for next year following the governor's proposal to raise appropriations for Iowa community colleges by 2 1/2 per cent.
The district for the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges covers five counties - Jackson, Clinton, Scott, Muscatine, and Louisa - and a small part of Cedar County.
