Sunday, April 27, 2014

Elementary Tree Planting


As part of the landscaping project at the elementary school the Audubon FFA students planted new trees around the property last week.


The students, with the help of Brad Stroeher, head janitor, Charlie Brittain, head of grounds and Marty Juelsgaard parent volunteer, planted about thirty trees made up of the following varieties:

-       Hybrid Maples and Elms on the south side of the school
-       White blooming Chanticleer pears lining the east side of the school
-       Sugar Maples on the north side of the school
-       Red blooming crab apple trees on the west side.

The students and their FFA advisor Brittany Elmquist who, as shown in the picture below, is not afraid of a little rain developed the design for the tree planting.



Future projects at the elementary include reseeding of the grass this summer and the planting of additional shrubs following the tuck-pointing of the original elementary building.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

FY2015 Proposed Tax Levy Approved


The Audubon School Board held their annual Budget Hearing Wednesday night and approved a total district tax levy of $12.42 for fiscal year 2015.  This is a decrease from the current years levy of $.49 per $1,000 of valuation.

As part of Superintendent Gibbs’ budget presentation to the board he reported that the schools general fund levy will decrease from $9.87 per $1,000 in FY14 to $9.14 per $1,000 for FY15.  That is a decrease of $.72 per $1,000.  The only levy that will see an increase for next fiscal year is the Debt Service levy, which will increase by $.24 from $1.69 per $1,000 to $1.93 per $1,000.  According to Gibbs the increase in the debt service is a one -year increase resulting from the school refinancing the 2005 General Obligation bond.

“While it’s nice to be able to report that our tax levy will be lower next year,” stated Gibbs.  “The truth is that a schools Tax Levy is almost exclusively formula driven and is directly related to property valuations.  Over the past five-years the Audubon Community School District has witnessed a increase in overall property valuation of over $32 million, which has resulted in our school levy decreasing by $1.61 per $1,000 of valuation.”



Now that the school board has approved the proposed levy for FY2015, the next step is to certify the levy with the Iowa Department of Management by April 15th.