For the first time, Pleasant Valley School District property owners will be paying a higher tax rate in the coming fiscal year than their Bettendorf school district counterparts.
The tax rate for Pleasant Valley homeowners will be $14.74 per $1,000 assessed valuation for fiscal 2013-14, up from $14.64 last year. Meanwhile, the Bettendorf School Board lowered the district's tax rate to $14.55 per $1,000 assessed valuation for the coming fiscal year, down from $15 last year.
The upward trend for the Pleasant Valley property tax rate mirrors a similar increase in enrollments in the district, which now exceeds Bettendorf. In addition to enrollment growth pushing up the tax rate, Pleasant Valley school administrators cite a decrease in the district’s overall valuation because of new state legislation that allows apartments to be taxed at a lower (residential) rate as condominiums.
In Bettendorf, the 4 percent increase in money from the state enabled the district to trim its property tax levy – initially targeted at $15 per $1,000 assessed valuation – to $14.55, nearly 20 cents less than Pleasant Valley for the coming year.
Based on a house with an assessed value of $150,000, a Pleasant Valley school district resident would pay $2,211 in the coming fiscal year. That compares with $2,183 for a home with the same value in the Bettendorf school district, or about 3 percent less.
Pleasant Valley's student enrollment grew by 270 students last year, and the district has been expanding the capacity of its newest school, Hopewell Elementary, at the north end of the district. Another new elementary school along Forest Grove Road is on the drawing boards as the district seeks to accommodate the expected future growth of students.
