With no opposition from the public, the John A. Logan College board adopted the 2007 Tax Levy Tuesday night, which increased by three-tenths of a cent from last year.

Before the meeting, the board had a public hearing to question the levy but found no opposition or even much attendance. The board was required to have the hearing because the proposed aggregate levy had more than a 5 percent increase over the previous year. The past two years, the growth in property value in the college district has exceeded 7 percent.

Brad McCormick, vice president for Business Services and College Facilities, said the tax rate for 2007 is anticipated to be a little more than 54 cents for every $100 of equalized assessed valuation. He said because of the minuscule increase, property owners should see little to no change in taxes, should their property value stay the same.

"The only way individual property owners will be affected is if there's an economic event that covered the whole region," McCormick said.

He said the chance of that happening is unlikely.

College President Robert Mees said the reason the board has to adopt the levy is to ensure it gets its share of tax extensions. The district requires $4,901,219 to be levied for educational purposes, including $816,813 for operations and maintenance and $1,557,067 for purposes of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.

McCormick said with the college's increasing enrollment, the levy is extremely important, but it's also prudent that they don't take any more money out of residents' pockets than they have to.

"The board's philosophy is to keep the tax rate flat," McCormick said.

codell.rodriguez@thesouthern.com

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