EDWARDSBURG — At a meeting on Monday, The Edwardsburg Public Schools Board of Education voted to lower its debt levy by 0.08 mils for the upcoming winter tax collection.

This is the 15th year in a row that the school district has voted to lower or maintain the amount of debt it has levied. The mil is now 3.54.

“This debt levy that we lowered is actually related to a bond back in 2005 for the performance center and the new auditorium,” said Birdella Holdread, the school board president.  “We levied a bond in 2005 and it started out at that 5.98 mils. And throughout the years we’ve been able to reduce the amount of money we need to collect, because as we pay off that bond we’re reducing the money that we owe.”

Lowering the debt levy, when feasible, is a commitment the school board made in 2005. According to the district, this has saved a home valued at $100,000 about $914 over that time period.

However, Holdread says residents often do not realize that the debt levy is lower because when it is time for them to go over their winter property taxes, there are often often other mils that they see.

“You have other things, like Southwestern’s levies and your emergency for your fire and ambulance and stuff like that,” Holdread said. “They levy ‘X’ number of mils. So people really don’t see it. It gets lost in the transition because there’s other things. … That’s why we are trying to highlight that. So people can see that we are keeping a promise and we are only going to charge them what we need to pay the debt each year.”

The amount of money a property owner in Edwardsburg pays for a debt levy is based on the number of mils. Each mil equates to $1 per $1,000 of property value. At 3.54 mils, a home worth $50,000 would pay $177.

“A mil in Michigan is what you levy to collect taxes,” Holdread said. “You can have half a mil. You can have three quarters of a mil. You can have different percentages.”

In order for this mil to exist, residents voted on it in 2005.

“We appreciate the community’s support of our school system and the dedication of the board of education, which has enabled us to reduce community homeowners’ costs,” stated the school district in a release.

The district hopes to have the debt levied paid off in roughly 15 years.