Tax levy will increase a bit

Property owners in the Esko school district should see a half-percent increase in next year’s school tax levy, after school board members on Dec. 9 approved the tax levy at $2,365,346, an increase of only $11,681 over last year.

Also during the Dec. 9 meeting, board members held a public hearing regarding a proposal to sell a maximum of $895,000 in general obligation tax abatement bonds to pay for a new parking lot and other parking lot improvements in the district. The new parking lot will be constructed on a former residential lot at 25 Lincoln Lane, adjacent and just east of school property, behind the former RAM Insurance building, now the Esko Education Center. The district is also hoping to improve a tiny parking lot between a nearby dental and business tax office.

Esko superintendent Aaron Fischer said no one from the public spoke during the public hearing and the school board later approved the abatement bonds. Fischer explained that the state legislature made it possible for school districts to approve abatement bonds for parking lots without needing to hold a voter referendum.

Property owners should not see a tax increase from the sale of abatement bonds, because the district had expiring debt. Instead of school taxes going down, they will roughly stay the same.

“For the last 20 years, I’ve been putting projects basically behind expiring debt. I had a 20-year plan,” Fischer said. ”Now we’re at that point where we’ve gotten all those things done without … being too difficult on our community for taxes.”