Gilmanton approves tax levy hike; district to dip into fund balance for 2015-16

by Beth Kraft

The Gilmanton School District banked over $150,000 into fund balance after underspending its budget last year, but a more than $72,000 budget shortfall is predicted for 2015-16.

The district’s budget and a total property tax levy of $1.269 million, an increase of 7.25 percent over last year’s levy, were approved at the school district’s annual meeting, held Monday, Oct. 26.

According to the proposed budget, presented by Gilmanton District Administrator Glen Denk, the district expects to see expenses of $2.56 million top revenues of $2.49 million. That budget forecast will likely require the district to pull roughly $72,000 out of fund balance to make ends meet, dropping fund balance to about $876,000.

School board members and Denk said several factors led to the anticipated lopsided budget, cutting into the district’s “rainy day” funds.

Coming in under budget for the 2014-15 school year may sound like a good thing, but Denk says it’s part of the reason the district’s aid totals dropped this year.

The district’s 2015-16 equalization aid dropped to $914,778 from nearly $1.4 million last year. Total aid fell from $1.15 million to just over $1 million this year.

“We were under budget, more than we had hoped,” said Denk of the $150,000 surplus from 2014-15, which he attributed to a few different factors. 

Long-term subbing needs that were required in 2014-15 wound up being less expensive than paying the usual staff salaries would have been, said Denk, plus summer maintenance projects the district had hoped to pay for with leftover funds from last year’s budget weren’t completed by the end of the fiscal year on June 30 in order to count. Gas and electricity costs were lower than anticipated last year as well.

Rising property values in the district that are increasing at a faster rate than state property values also spells trouble for a small school district’s equalization aid, school leaders explained.

With district property valued at $87 million this year, an increase of 7.5 percent, and a total membership of just 171 students (based on a three-year average), it makes for a high dollar amount behind each student.

State property values increased 2.5 percent this year. 

After plugging those factors and others into the state’s complicated formula, Gilmanton received a $114,000 cut to its equalization aid this year.

Rising property values would need to be matched by a greater increase in the number of students in the district, Board member Marty Hallock said, in order to lessen the blow to district aid.

The total number of students attending school at Gilmanton increased for the first time since 2012-13. The district gained two students over last year for a total of 157 students, but Denk said the district’s overall population trend still indicates “a slow decline.”

This year’s seventh grade class is the largest in the district at 16 students; seven different grades have 10 or fewer students currently enrolled.

Students who opt to open enroll out to other schools also costs the district.

Denk said 31 FTE (full-time enrolled) students are open enrolling out this year compared to 13 FTE open enrolling in for a loss of just under $120,000 in state aid dollars tied to those students.

Prior to this year’s budget forecast, the district’s fund balance had improved by nearly $200,000 after starting the 2013-14 school year with about $752,000.

Last year’s property tax levy fell 5.25 percent to $1.19 million. This year’s total school levy is an increase of about $20,000 over 2013-14 and is roughly $1,000 less than the proposed levy that was originally published since budget figures were finalized in recent weeks.

School leaders explained the district must “levy to the max” each year in order to avoid losing funding in the future if revenue caps were to change.

Denk said Gilmanton and other small school districts “would have a short life” if they stopped levying the full amount allowed under revenue caps.

With a mill rate of 13.55 this year, Gilmanton taxpayers will owe the school district $1,355 for every $100,000 worth of property.

All is well with GHS well

Also discussed at the annual meeting and at the Board’s monthly meeting that night were efforts to locate the source of bacteria in the well that provides water to the middle/high school building.

Multiple steps have been taken over the past few months to disinfect the water supply, and everything in the well pump system has now been replaced with the exception of the casing, said Denk.

The well itself was scrubbed and disinfected, the pump and wiring are new, and a bad pressure tank was removed in hopes of correcting the problem.

It appears those efforts were successful.

Principal Kory Rud reported Monday that the most recent water samples passed the bacteria test. Those results were shared with school leaders on Thursday morning, Oct. 29, said Rud.

Test results were obtained much more quickly because the district was finally allowed to send samples to be checked out in Alma. Previously the water samples had to go to labs in La Crosse or Madison, making for a lot of lag time before another remedy for the well was explored.

The initial positive bacteria reading came up in an August test. As a public well, the water is tested quarterly. Bottled water was offered to students and staff and water used in the cafeteria was boiled during the weeks the middle/high school well water tested positive for bacteria.

Hallock noted at the annual meeting that above-average rainfall this summer has caused problems with other wells in the area, too.

In other business that night, the Board approved the following at its monthly meeting:

• Rick Bloom for varsity girls basketball coach (one year contract)

• leave of absence for Jamey Davis

• Madison Gray for kitchen substitute