MERIDIAN —     Due to increased funding to the Lauderdale County School District, county taxes will increase next year, according to county officials.

    The county Board of Supervisors met Thursday for a work session and heard from Charlotte Parker, finance director for the Lauderdale County School District. The increase in county taxes for schools is not something the Board of Supervisors can control, said District One Supervisor Hank Florey.

    "We understand that you have to have this increase," Florey said. "We want to make sure the public understands that we, being the Board of Supervisors, are not raising millage."

    The school district's millage will go from 51.45 mills to 54.68 mills.

    The county's millage rate will remain at 56.70 mills as it has been for the last four years.

    The increase in tax levy is necessary because of the increased funding request from the school district, which by law the Board of Supervisors must fund as requested.

    The property tax of a house valued at $100,000 would increase by $32.30.

    The school district has already advertised its notice of a tax increase in The Meridian Star and has held a public hearing on the matter, Parker said.

    A notice from the county on the proposed tax increase is in today's paper on Page A3.

    Expenses have gone up for the school district, Parker explained.

    "We have maintained for the past seven years just having school, paying teachers and the teachers have gotten a little bit of an increase because of experience. That's just the state scale. We don't set that," Parker said. "Retirement's gone up, insurance has gone up, so the district has to pay that. A lot of times the state has funded us with those mandated increases, but we did not receive anything this past year for any kind of increase to the retirement."

    The district has been operating on the bare minimum for some time, she said.

    "What we have done the last several years, is we have just had school," Parker said. "We've educated the kids, we've paid the teachers, we've paid the utility bills. We're paying the grocery bills. All we have done is what we had to do. We have not gone out and thrown money away."

    Because of the overall economy throughout the state, Parker said, the Lauderdale County School District is operating with about $4 million less than it had in 2009. That's money that the state has reduced over the years.

    Parker said this is the first time since 2009 that the school district has asked for more money.

    "From my standpoint over the years, whenever there is an increase in the school millage, if we say we're not raising the taxes and then all of a sudden we've got a millage increase, it doesn't matter who's raising it, it looks like the board is doing it," said Joe Norwood, Board president. "We want to make sure that people are aware. We realize you do a great job and we understand the economy. We've tightened our belts as much as we can tighten our belts."

    The Board of Supervisors has projected that next year's budget will be more than $40.4 million and of that nearly 64 percent will be financed through property taxes.

    A public hearing on the proposed budget and tax levies will be held Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m. on the first floor of the county's annex building, 410 Constitution Avenue.