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 15^th.