By Lori Ehde
In an effort to balance decreasing revenues against increasing costs, Luverne School District is joining districts statewide in proposing an excess levy referendum.
During their regular meeting Thursday, Sept. 13, Luverne School Board members agreed to put the proposal to district voters, and during a special meeting Monday night, they decided on an amount.
Voters will be asked to approve a $400-per-pupil excess levy that would amount to approximately $234,000 asked of Luverne School District property owners.
What could make the excess levy more palatable is a proportionate property tax reduction.
"If you put down 37 cents you get 63 cents back," said district financial officer Marlene Mann.
If the excess levy is approved by voters, it will generate roughly $635,000 for the district. The local effort would be nearly 37 percent of that, or $234,000, with the balance coming from state aid.
"It's important to know it's a matched effort from the state," Mann said.
The levy would be in effect for 10 years.
According to Mann, district residents are already seeing a 38-percent decrease in the amount they'll pay for education next year. That decrease is due to a state shift of school funding from property taxes to sales and income tax.
If the excess levy is approved, local property taxes will still decrease by more than 30 percent. "You're still going to have a huge reduction in our local effort," Mann said.
She said the excess levy will be relatively painless for local taxpayers, but it will be priceless for the district in terms of guaranteed revenue when all other sources are shaky.
She said shifting school funding to sales and income tax looks good to local property tax payers, but she said those funding sources are vulnerable to the economic health of the state.
Further, she said the district's own revenue sources are uncertain when student enrollment is projected to steadily decline.
Despite last year's $328,000 in cuts, the Luverne District's revenues still fall short of expenses by more than $100,000. Expenses such as fuel and health insurance have affected all districts.
That, combined with state support not meeting inflation and rising expenses, adds up to a projected $120,000 shortfall by the end of this school year.
For these reasons, the board hopes voters will approve the excess levy to hedge the district's revenues against an uncertain future.
"It seems to make good business sense to have some guarantee from local voters that we'll have some revenue," said Superintendent Vince Schaefer. "Especially since we're down to one-month's operating reserve."
If it's not approved, the district stands to lose more than $75,000 in equity aid from the state.
If the $234,000 excess levy is approved, the local tax burden for education would be nearly 37 percent. The rest by law would be paid by the state.
District residents will vote on the excess levy in a special election Nov. 6. They will be asked to answer the question, "
Fifty percent of the voters, plus one, is needed for the referendum to pass.