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FAIRMONT - The Fairmont Area School District’s preliminary tax levy was set at the maximum amount possible, to give the school board the maximum amount of flexibility, at their meeting on Tuesday.
The maximum preliminary levy was sent to districts by the Minnesota Department of Education on Sept. 8. Business Manager Jessica Korte said they get an update on this maximum amount every day up until Sept. 30.
"That’s the same for school districts as well as counties and cities," she said. "That’s a deadline for the boards to certify our proposed preliminary levy. November, you get the lovely truth and taxation notices everyone likes to get that list the dates and times of each meeting, and then in December that’s the deadline to hold truth and taxation meetings, and that’s the final property tax levy or via truth and taxation."
This year, they will have that meeting at or after 6 p.m. on Dec. 8th, depending on the length of the preceding school board meeting.
Generally, Korte said they have always gone with the maximum. While they could set a specific dollar amount under the maximum, Korte said this would come with complications.
"If there’s any changes between now and Sept. 30th on any of MDE’s calculations, we’re pretty much stuck with that number," she said. "That’s why what’s historically been done here and is recommended is to certify the maximum levy."
In addition, if MDE made any adjustments, the school board would have to re-certify the preliminary levy with a special school board meeting before Sept. 30th.
"The statute requires us to levy for 110 percent of what we are expected to pay, and then MDE with their investments will reduce their money down or up based on what we have in our fund balance," Korte said. "Some other things that you’ll see in our levy also is based on student enrollment."
Like in previous years, the school board approved setting the preliminary levy at the maximum so it has the full amount of flexibility to determine where to set the final levy moving forward,
The next step in a potential referendum was also taken at Tuesday's school board meeting.
To move forward, the board needed to approve or disapprove district administration to work with consultants to submit a review and comment to the Minnesota Department of Education for a potential two-question referendum in February 2027.
Board Member Dan Brookens said this was discussed at the operations meeting last week, and he made the motion for approval. Board Member Michael Edman said this was coming as there's a timeframe they need to meet.
"This is something that has to be approved in a certain window of time, as dictated by the Department of Education," he said. "Doesn’t mean that there’s going to be a ballot question in February; this vote is not guaranteeing that. It's in the deadline within a multi-step process from MDE. We’re actually a little bit ahead of the curve, which is as intended. It gives us a little bit more time to digest the feedback that we get and keep moving forward," Edman said.
Approval for continued work on a potential referendum was obtained unanimously.
In other news:
-- Contract settlements for media technicians, instructional and supervisory aides, online learning coordinators and technology specialists across the school district were approved. In addition to other improvements, wage increases were approved in all four contracts.
-- In a presentation to the board, Partners in Education Representative Betsy Tino said they were excited for another year of giving to help teachers in the classroom, like they did last year with $29,000 in grants given for teacher class projects. This year, educators have to submit their grants to administrators by Oct. 9, and administrators have to submit them to the business office by Oct. 13.