School boards set disparate levies

The Wrenshall school board certified its 2020 levy Monday night that shows a 43-percent increase in taxes for residents of the district. While that is a huge jump, it wasn’t unexpected as the board this fall approved a nonvoter-approved $9.3 million bonding project that will cost taxpayers more than $400,000 a year for 20 years. The bonding will improve air quality at the school.

If there hadn’t been bonding, the tax increase for next year would have been about 6 percent.

There were a few people at the Truth-In-Taxation meeting that took place before the certification. It shows the levy portion of school funding, the part residents pay, at $1,415,626 for 2020 compared to $984,545 in 2019.

Jen Smith from Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium made the levy presentation. She pointed out that of the taxes residents pay, about half goes to debt service.

Taxpayers pay about 27 percent of the overall school funding. The other $3.9 million in revenue comes from other sources, chiefly in state funding. The state covers 71 percent of school costs.

There was little public discussion about the levy at the meeting. Some residents expressed their apprehension as the district continues to talk about consolidation with Carlton and the costs associated with it. They also spoke about the tax rebates that school districts, townships and the county have to pay back after recent state tax court rulings saying public utilities in the state were overtaxed on their properties across the state.

Carlton had a similar scenario last year as its levy also jumped 43 percent after improvements were made at South Terrace Elementary using nonvoter-approved bonding. For 2020, its levy will decrease 8.5 percent, with taxpayers putting $1,613,141 into the district.

Resident survey

Both school boards went back and forth this week on the survey that will go out to residents and parents of students in the districts after Jan. 1. It asks about the two districts’ consolidation and the appetite for the $40 million cost associated with improving schools for the merger. Final approval of the survey came Wednesday. It includes a detailed explanation of the two-site configuration of a consolidated district and how much taxpayers would have to spend. It asks five questions about those plans.

The districts are hoping to get a better idea of public opinion on consolidation as officials move forward with lobbying for state funding in the next legislature and a possible referendum in August asking for bonding for improvements at South Terrace and the Wrenshall school to make room for an influx of students under consolidation.