The Warren County School District hasn’t lowered taxes, but it stands to collect less revenue.

According to a millage analysis presented last week by Director of Business Services Jim Grosch to the school board’s finance committee, the district will see less in real estate tax revenue in the 2023-2024 school year.

The culprit is a decrease in the overall assessed value of property in Warren County. For 2022-2023, that number was $455,889,651. Next year, the total will be $453,490,272 — about $2.4 million less.

“Just the change in assessed values would be a loss in revenue of about $134,000,” Grosch said.

That’s almost one-third of a mill of taxes. “Normally we expect to see $400,000 to $450,000 for a mill.”

Committee chairman Arthur Stewart said the change is due to appeals of the county’s assessment data. The last county-wide reassessment was conducted in the 1980s.

“The county’s millage has gone down by 2.4 million. Our revenue here at the school district goes down. We need a reassessment,” Stewart said.

He said large businesses that can afford to appeal their assessments almost “automatically get a reduction.” Homeowners and small business owners are “paying the same every year,” he said. “A lot of businesses are paying less.”

One mill is $1 of taxes per $1,000 of assessed value.

The district’s millage is 55.8371. The tax on a property with a $50,000 assessment is almost $2,800.

During the discussion, Grosch said the district may increase its tax rate by 5.9 percent without exceeding the state’s index.

“That would be 3.2943 mills,” he said. “It would equate to about $1.36 million.”

Other than to declare it will not exceed the index, the board has not discussed setting a tax rate for the coming year.