School Board Considers 17-percent Levy Increase
The Rochester School Board was briefed Tuesday night on the school district administration’s recommendation to certify the district’s maximum property tax levy for next year at $43.4 million dollars. That would be an increase of $6.3 million dollars from the current levy, or a nearly 17-percent hike.
The school board is expected to vote on the preliminary levy in early October, and could certify a lower amount or find ways to reduce it before adopting the actual levy in December, but both options would require major cuts to the school district budget. That’s because the potential double-digit percentage increase is tied to decisions made by the school board in June.
The first involved a change in state law that gave the board authority to increase a voter approved operating levy to a total of $300 dollars per-pupil to avoid losing over a million dollars in state aid, which has been tied to about $3.4 million of the overall levy increase. The board also approved an update to the district’s major maintenance plan that accounts for another $2.5-million dollars of the increase.
Materials reviewed by the school board Tuesday night project the proposed preliminary levy amount would boost the school district’s portion of the property tax bill paid by the owner of a $200,000 dollar home by about $120 dollars per year.
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