The Warren County School District has proposed a $93.86 million budget for the 2025-26 school year, reflecting a $2.29 million increase over the current year’s budget.

The final adoption of the budget is scheduled for June.

District officials say the budget increase is being largely offset by savings achieved through the controversial consolidation of the district’s two high schools–an action that is projected to save $1.7 million annually.

According to Board Treasurer Joe Grosch, the district collects about $453,000 in revenue for each mill levied. The $1.7 million savings from the consolidation equates to approximately 3.82 mills of “cost avoidance,” meaning the district won’t need to raise property taxes by that amount to balance the budget.

“This equates to 3.82 mills in cost savings–or maybe a better term is cost avoidance–because we don’t have to increase the millage due to this amount of money anyway,” Grosch said.

Grosch provided real-world examples of how this impacts taxpayers: A home assessed at $50,000 would avoid a $191 tax increase. A $100,000 home would avoid a $382 increase. A $200,000 home would avoid a $764 increase.

“While those are per-year figures, they represent what residents would have had to pay additionally if the consolidation hadn’t taken place,” Grosch clarified. “So, for example, on a $100,000 assessed-value home, the current year’s tax is $5,783.71. Without the savings from consolidation, it would have increased to $6,165.71.”

The budget process will continue over the coming weeks, with school board members expected to vote on final adoption in June. The savings from school closures are expected to play a key role in keeping tax rates steady while addressing increased expenses.

Two members of the public thanked the board for keeping the proposed millage the same in the proposed budget, though both had questions about how the ongoing county property reassessment would affect their property taxes in the future. Grosch replied that the reassessment doesn’t affect the revenue the district needs to operate, but the portion of the millage that property owners will pay.

“They are currently in the process of completing the assessment,” Grosch said. “In the year 2026, so a year from now, there will be an adjustment in those. It has to be budgeted, that’s how it works. I can’t tell you what the yearly millage will go down, in theory, it will go down the same to make it budget neutral. Some people might pay more, some might pay less, some might pay the same. From an accounting perspective, it’s supposed to be budget neutral.”