Voters at the Hamilton School District's annual meeting Monday night unanimously approved the 2012-13 property tax levy needed to fund the district's $49 million budget. 

Business Services Assistant Superintendent Bryan Ruud presented the levy at the Hamilton Fine Arts Center, outlining the district's new budget, including the reasoning for an increase. Due to declining state aid, the district is compensating by increasing the levy by 2.8 percent.

"The proposed tax levy is the most they’ll allow us to collect next school year without a referendum," Ruud explained.

The total budget is $49.1 million — an increase of more than 1.5 percent compared to this year’s budget. However, the district is quick to point out the budget is still about 2 percent less than it was two years ago.

“We’re continuing to see a trend, a shift of our revenue from the state to the local taxpayer...”

The Hamilton School District expects to receive only 38 percent of its revenue from the state, a 2 percent decrease from this school year. That means taxpayers will be expected to chip in more than 58 percent. The rest comes from other income, such as fees, and other aid.

“We’re continuing to see a trend, a shift of our revenue from the state to the local taxpayer,” Ruud told the board in April. “There are less dollars coming from the state, especially because we’re a very property wealthy area. Income from the state and the tax levy have always hovered around 50-50, but we’re seeing a trend with less money from the state.”

The budget calls for a property tax levy of $31.5 million.

The projected property tax rate is $10.41 per $1,000 of equalized property value, also a 2.8 percent increase. The owner of a home valued at $300,000 will pay about $84 more than last year in school taxes when bills are mailed out in December, officials estimate.