VIDALIA — The Concordia Parish School Board lowered its three tax millage levees by a small amount Thursday, but taxpayers can expect to pay nearly the same as last year.

Director of Business Affairs Tom O’Neal said at the school board’s meeting the decrease on the three levees comes following assessed property values in the parish increasing.

O’Neal said the decreases will allow the school board to collect the same amount of revenue as it did during the last tax year.

The district has two general support taxes long approved by parish residents. The first, which was renewed in 2012, decreased from 25 mills to 24.740 mills. The second, which was renewed in 2014, decreased from 13 to 12.86 mills.

The constitutional levee decreased from 2.84 to 2.81 mills.

The ad valorem tax revenue for the school board in the 2014-15 school year was $5,607,937.

O’Neal said while the law generally requires agencies to collect the same amount of money as the previous year, provisions exist that would have allowed the parish to keep millage at the same rate and collect additional ad valorem tax revenue.

“There are a lot of hoops you have to jump through for that,” he said. “We have never felt the need to do that.”

In other news, the district announced a new Monterey High School principal, Dena Hale. She is replacing Ralph Simmons.

4Perchard Cartwright will be the new Ferriday High School band director.