The Jackson School District is again at odds with the city government over school taxes.

The Clarion-ledger reports (http://on.thec-l.com/GH04iJ ) that documents it has obtained through by public records request show the school system contends the city broke an agreement struck in July that set the district's operational millage at 65.91 mills. The city allocated just 64.79 mills, because city finance officials say that was all that will be needed to support the school system's $71.8 million budget.

The Jackson City Council last week offered to settle for $451,000 — close to half of the disputed amount. School officials haven't given any sign they will take the deal.

"We approved a proposed settlement," Councilman Tony Yarber said. "I haven't heard directly from the school board, but it's my understanding that they were not accepting of it."

The agreement came after the school district sued the city.

Like last year's lawsuit, the latest fight will hinge on a state law that gives the two sides different roles in the budgeting process.

The school board is required to set its budget each year and request a set amount of money from the city. The city then levies enough property taxes to fund the budget.

The larger trouble between the two sides dates to as early as 2007. Since then, the city has under-funded the school system by $22 million, largely because it wasn't following the state budgeting law properly. School officials, too, bear some of the blame, because they didn't complain for six years while this was going on.

Now, the roles have reversed.me

By setting the tax levy to match the budget request, the city is obeying state law. And, arguably if the city had set the millage at 65.91, it might actually be breaking the law, which says the city should levy taxes "equal to" the budget request.

Now that the school district's dollar request won't yield the tax levy it wants, the school system is arguing that the court order trumps it.

If it goes to court, Yarber said the council has been following the advice of the city's attorneys.

But, "as a layman, if I'm looking at it and there's a state statute — I guess my question would be does the order take precedence over the statute? How does that work?"

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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com