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.
