Decatur School Debt Sinks Decatur Taxpayers

The debt from MSD Decatur School District's extravagant building projects is causing Decatur tax rates to soar this year. According to public notice on pay-08 property tax rates published in today's Indianapolis Star, taxes collected to pay off Decatur School's debt, accounts for over half of all property tax funds collected by the School district. The School's taxes, in turn, account for 64% of all property taxes to be paid by Decatur property owners for 2008.

Decatur stands heads and shoulders above all other school districts in the County with its tax rate to cover debt -- indicating that the Decatur taxpayer can ill afford the largess that the school board allowed to happen.

Decatur's rate to cover its school debt is (1.57%), highest in the County. Decatur's total school tax rate (2.75%) is the highest in the County. This of course makes Decatur's total property tax rate (4.3067%) the highest in the County.

Looking at the tax rate to cover school debt only, Decatur is 1.7 times that of Franklin Township schools, its nearest 'competitor'. Listing the other school districts in ascending order, Decatur's debt tax rate is 2.5 times that of Wayne, 2.9 times that of Beech Grove, 3.4 times that of Warren, 3.6 times that of Perry, 4.5 times that of Pike, 5.1 times that of IPS, 6.1 times that of Lawrence, 16.4 times that of Washington, and a whopping 424.3 times that of Speedway school districts.