BLUE EARTH — The Blue Earth Area School Board opened their meeting on Monday, Dec. 14, with a Truth in Taxation Public Hearing.

During the hearing, the district’s fiscal services coordinator, Alan Wilhelmi, gave a review of the district’s finances and explained the proposed tax levy.

“The passing of the referendum in November increased the levy authority and resulted in the biggest change from the previous year,” Wilhelmi explained.

There was no public comment and the board passed the proposed tax levy of $3,008,003. The total amount was split into three different categories. The General Fund amount totaled $2,235,788, Community Service totaled $136,957 and debt service was $635,258.

The board also heard from Laura Buechnes of the public accounting firm of CliftonLarsonAllen who provided an audit report for the district.

“It was a clean audit report,” Buechnes said. “The revenues and expenditures were about the same as the previous year.”

Superintendent Mandy Fletcher reported the COVID-19 numbers in the school are manageable.

“It is worth noting we are still not seeing a spread in the school buildings,” she commented. “We try and update the dashboard on our website a few times per week so anyone can quickly get a snapshot of what is happening inside the school in regards to COVID numbers.”

She also touched on the mental health of the students.

“The (Centers for Disease Control) is now recommending to keep schools open if at all possible, in part, because of the student’s mental health,” Fletcher shared. “The Incident Command Team plans to meet again on Dec. 29. We will make a decision at the meeting on what learning model we will be in when we return after the Christmas break.”