By Randy Ellis, Staff Writer
EL RENO — Three Canadian County school districts are scrambling to resolve budget turmoil following the discovery that business personal property taxes paid by several oilfield companies had been improperly allocated to the wrong school districts.
Blame for the multi-million dollar foul-ups is unclear, but the mistaken allocations have been going on for years and may take a series of lawsuits to straighten out, said Canadian County Assessor Matt Wehmuller.
The financial impact is significant — particularly for taxpayers in the El Reno school district where the net property valuation is set to drop from about $78.3 million in 2013 to $59.6 million this year.
The timing is terrible, said Craig McVay, superintendent of El Reno Public Schools.
Taxpayers in that district approved a $45 million bond issue in January 2013 after school supporters mounted a campaign stressing that the financial impact on taxpayers would be modest — the equivalent of the monthly cost of buying a cheeseburger and Coke at a local diner.
Responsibility for paying back those bonds will now be spread among fewer taxpayers, so those costs will go up, McVay said.
“We’re talking about a couple of cheeseburgers, fries and a Coke as opposed to a cheeseburger and a Coke (per month),” McVay said, noting that precise impact calculations have not yet been made.
The owner of a $100,000 home in El Reno who was expecting to pay about $1,113 in taxes should now expect to pay about $1,215 the first year and $1,255 the second year, he said, stressing once again that estimates are preliminary.
“If anyone’s property taxes are messed up at this point, it’s El Reno Public School District, I can tell you that,” McVay said.
A mixed blessing
While the El Reno school district will be losing money, Riverside and Banner school districts are set to receive windfalls.
Net property valuations in the Riverside school district are set to rise from about $22 million in 2013 to $35.9 million in 2014 and valuations in the Banner school district are set to rise from $32.2 million to $44.9 million, according to figures released Friday by the assessor.
Even that is a mixed blessing, however.
Schools are up against an Oct.
