Rushing in from outside, families escape the gusty cold winds. They are all from Chesak Elementary school, here to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in front of the board of education on Dec 17.

Excited as they were, the children had to wait patiently for 10 minutes before stepping up to the microphone. The Board had just returned from a closed session, and as they took their seats, took roll call.

Board President Donald Drzal, clad in his holiday sweater and light up necklace, then motioned for the 2015 Levy Hearing.

Mark Altmayer, Chief Financial Officer, began his testimony by introducing himself and the subject of the tax levy.

“This is a pretty important thing we do each year,” said Altmayer.

Altmayer presented the balloon in tax rate for the next year, approximately 0.8%, in order to help cover any new construction costs the coming year. To assuage any concerns, he addressed existing homeowners.

“This is additional tax for new construction, existing homeowners will be unaffected,” said Altmayer.

For example, according to Altmayer, an existing homeowner with a $200,000 home will see approximately a $28 increase in their property tax bill for the district.

Although the tax rate is slightly increasing, overall, the district tax rate actually decreases from about $5.97 to $5.87. The slight balloon is actually just to insure all expenses are covered.

“We balloon the levy, we cover everything at the end of the day,” said Altmayer. “We don’t want to leave dollars on the table.”

With this, Altmayer concluded his presentation for the 2015 tax levy, and handed it over to Drzal to end the hearing.

“Good to hear housing values are increasing,” said Drzal.

Then finally, to end the night, the eager elementary kids warmed the room with their enthusiastic Pledge of Allegiance.