For more than a decade now, the School District 56 Board of Trustees has adopted a budget which does not include a hike in the property tax millage rate.
That trend held true Monday evening with the 2nd and final passage of a proposed $34.96 Million budget, which is 1.7% higher than the current operational spending plan. The budget decisions and a bond resolution were made at the board’s June 22 regular monthly meeting; the board does not meet again until Aug. 24, well after the Aug. 4 start of the next, 2026-27 academic year.
The exact millage rate is pending county property re-assessment. The board was eligible to raise property taxes 4.4 mils, based on inflation, to bring the millage rate to 171.7; but has decided that is not necessary.
The district does use a general obligation bond to fund capital improvements, but pays off that debt year-by-year. At its May 18 meeting, the board decided to use this capital funding for an $807,000 contract for Panagakos Paving for the Clinton Elementary and Joanna-Woodson Elementary parking lots, and a $1.8 Million contract for Triangle Construction to build an addition to the Joanna-Woodson school cafeteria.
Again for this coming fiscal year, the District will sell a $3 Million bond with the proceeds dedicated to capital projects. District officials have said they do not anticipate having to build a school, based on current capacities, but it may have to expand Eastside Elementary School as new subdivisions east of Clinton come on-line.
The mechanism used by D56 to acquire this money allows for public bodies to sell a bond equal to 8% of the assessed value of all taxable property in their area. For District 56, that value is not less than $82.9 Million, according to the bond document, and the District could have sold a bond equal to $6.6 Million. Following past practice, the board decided to raise half that much, and leave the other half available for emergency funding if needed.
As property taxes come into the county, and that revenue is transferred to the district, the bond’s principal and interest is paid off, year-by-year.
The registered holder of this bond is the South Carolina Association of Governmental Organizations.
The principal and interest is assigned to Regions Bank.
The district gets its legal opinion from Burr & Forman LLC, Columbia.
The district’s financial advisor is Compass Municipal Advisors LLC, Columbia.
The current year’s School District 56 budget is $34.38 Million, with 167.5 mils of tax raising $10.8 Million (source: public notice from School District 56 published in The Clinton Chronicle).
Also at its June 22 meeting, the board gave final reading approval to the district’s modified-year-round calendar for the 2027-28 academic year, and approved its meeting schedule for 2026-27. The board conducted a 30-minute budget hearing / public comments time at this meeting.
The District 56 Board of Trustees meets the 4th Monday of each month (except holidays, no meeting in July and December), at 7:30 p.m. in the District 56 Conference Center at 100 Legion Dr., Clinton. The meetings are open to the public, and a public comments time is available, based on district policies.
