Glenwood City School’s mill rate set to increase in 2023-2024
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GLENWOOD CITY — For just the second time in the past seven years, the mill rate for the School District of Glenwood City may increase.
The 2023-24 projected mill rate is set to increase by $1.18 from the previous year’s rate.
During the district’s budget hearing and annual meeting held Monday evening, August 21 in the board room, with 19 residents in attendance, including six members of the board of education, a proposed local tax levy of $3,035,642 to support the proposed budget for the 2023-24 school year was approved.
That figure represents a $445,075 increase from last year’s local levy of $2,590,387. That will increase the mill rate from 6.91 in 2022-23 to a projected rate of 8.09 for the upcoming academic year.
The mill rate is the amount that property owners pay on each $1,000 of equalized value. So, with a proposed mill rate of 8.09, taxpayers can expected to ante up $8.09 per $1,000 of equalized valuation.
The mill rate and budget numbers, however, are not set in stone and may likely change before the district learns its final state aid numbers in mid-October
Equalized valuations in the district had climbed by about $25 to $30 million per year over the previous three years. But, just prior to the budget hearing and annual meeting, administration had learned that the Glenwood City School District’s 2023 valuation had increased by a whopping 15.3 percent or $57,434,099.
The projected $3,035,642 is the amount local taxpayers will be dishing out to support the school district’s educational mission while the remainder of the $9,974,620 budget approved at the annual meeting for 2023-2024 will come from state funding sources.
Newly hired district administrator Patrick Olson went over the 2023-2024 proposed budget in detail during the budget hearing which was held just prior to the annual meeting.
During that hearing, Olson outlined and explained the various funds, from the general fund to special education, long-term capital funds, food service, scholarship and community education, that the district draws from each year to cover operational expenses. Those expenses are balanced by the revenues that the Glenwood City School District collects from local and state sources.
Declining in-district student enrollment has also had an effect on how the district collects its revenues each year. As the full-time equivalent (FTE) count, which is officially taken the third Friday each September, decreases so does the amount of state aid the district receives thereby placing a larger financial burden on the local taxpayers to make up the difference.
Since student enrollment district-wide peaked at 748 in 2014, it has steadily declined hitting 650 for 2021-22. Enrollment improved to 673 a year ago and is projected to remain about the same for this coming school year.
In the final portion of the annual meeting, those in attendance approved the items on the consent agenda, which included keeping board member salaries at $2,500 per year for officers and $2,200 for regular members along with a $75 per member stipend for special meetings and a per diem of $75 per day when traveling away from the district; setting next year’s annual meeting and budget hearing for September 23, 2024; and the authority to deal with busing routes; and heard this past year’s accomplishments and future goals from district administrator Olson, and principals Betsy Haltinner (elementary) and Marcy Burch (high school and middle school) and Erin Spaeth (director of student services and special education).
Business Meeting
Prior to the budget hearing, the board of education conducted a brief business meeting where it handled a couple of personnel issues and approved a pair of requests for athletic practices on Labor Day by the football and cross country teams and accepted a grant from the Everwood Foundation.
The board approved the hires of Kristine Vickers as a full-time elementary teacher and Shanna Hoffman as a half-time 4K teacher.
The board also approved the expenditure of $137,200 to repair the elementary gym roof that was damage during the July 19 storm. Olson told members of the board that the district would be able to recoup 100 percent of the coast through its insurance carrier and that the $25,000 deductible had already been met.
Updated medical insurance rates from SF Insurance for 2023 were approved as was a $15,120 expenditure to Carpets Plus by Design of Woodville to apply 7,560 square feet of a vapor barrier to the commons area to help control high moisture levels in that area.
