GRANADA – Though the official total is a 34.9 percent increase, Granada-Huntley-East Chain (GHEC) Superintendent Doug Storbeck said it will only be a 15 percent increase in the school’s tax levy that affects taxpayers, as the tax levy was passed during Thursday’s School Board meeting.

This is because the tax levy increase comes with approval of GHEC’s referendum in early November. A good chunk of the cost of this referendum will be eaten by Ag2School, a state program that provides automatic tax relief for landowners in rural areas when referendums pass.

Business Manager Brian Mittelstadt said three points to remember are that revenue formulas and the local levy and state aid mix are set by the state legislature, excluding referendums and an increase in local taxes does not necessarily mean an increase in revenues for the school district.

Regarding tax changes as a whole, Mittelstadt said a portion of it is at the state level by legislative decisions.

“There’s sales ratio, tax capacity and laws mandating code [compliance],” he said. “It’s all driven by the counties in the state. They do all those calculations and figuring in. We have no say over it, but our levy is impacted by it.”

There are also factors at the local level that have an impact, which Mittelstadt said the school district has no control over.

“The inflation, abatements and property improvements,” he said. “A good portion of the biggest factor for tax purposes is not anything we do. It’s something driven by the state and the counties where they assess market values. There’s not a whole lot that we have in play for there.”

To bring the levy down to this level, the general fund has been cut by $64,590, and the community services fund was decreased by 10 percent, a little under $4,000. Around 54 percent of the levy will go toward the general fund, while 45 percent will be for repayment of principle and interest on district debt, such as that from the referendum.

The floor was opened for public comment, but there was no one from the public to provide comment. The tax levy was passed unanimously by the school board.

In other news:

— The school board elected to schedule a work session before January’s school board meeting at 4 p.m. to consider a four-day school week. Storbeck said currently, the plan would be to have Monday off for students, with childcare services provided for students K-6 that day. The plan provided by Storbeck in August was that it would be an intervention day for students who need it, with a summer school-type schedule. Storbeck said now the prevailing idea is it would be a free prep day for teachers to work on lesson plans and grading assignments. He said it could be a way to help recruit and retain teachers, as more of their weekend time would be freed up by having a designated day for teacher work. In a survey sent out the day of the meeting, Storbeck said 78 percent of teachers want to hear more about this potential option, while 22 percent were not interested. Storbeck said if they do end up looking at changing the schedule for next school year, he said they would have to do so by the end of March.

— GHEC Secondary School Principal Andy Walden said district leadership put cell phone pouches to a vote, and it was 6-5 in favor of cell phone pouches. With this result, Walden said this issue will be brought to the board for it consideration and decision in the future.