Also at the meeting, Tax Assessor Jim Rooney warned the board about the effect of the current recession on future property tax revenues. He did not want them to be surprised since property tax revenue contributes to 60 percent of school funding. In the past 4 to 5 years, property tax revenue have increased annually between 12 to14 percent, primarily due to changes in ownership and new construction. This is substantially higher than the Prop 13 annual maximum property tax assessment increase of 2 percent.

Rooney is projecting that there will still be an increase in property tax revenue this coming year, but it will remain between 4 to 5 percent. The downturn in the real estate market has caused the downward reassessment of properties purchased in the past 2 to 3 years. This is a relatively small proportion of properties that are being reassessed. Rooney said that even though these homes may be reduced in value by 20 to 30 percent, when the market rebounds, as is typical, property tax revenue will also rebound. Barbara Murray, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, said there was some built in protection for school funds from the state. Amador Schools are qualified for 25 million dollars from the state.