District budget, tax rates broken down during school board meeting
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The Marshalltown Community School District Board of Education reviewed the certified budget process for the 2024-25 school year as Director of Business Operations Randy Denham told the board about the budget building blocks and new puzzle pieces during the regular meeting Monday night.
Board members Maria Morales and Karina Hernandez were absent.
"We are in budget season, so you'll be hearing a lot from me over the next month or two on this whole process," Denham said.
In a nutshell, he said the certified budget process has two purposes -- to meet timelines and processes for certifying property tax rates and to publish expenditures of district funds.
"So, the budget is driven by two major factors -- one being certified enrollment and the other being State Supplemental Aid (SSA)," Denham said. "SSA for {2025] has not been set yet. The governor recommended 2.5 percent of the budget proposal in January. Current Iowa law says that must be set within 30 days of that, and 30 days was Feb. 8. There is a bill in the house I believe right now saying they will set it at some point this session. We will see what that amounts to."
Assuming the SSA is 2.5 percent, he said there would be an increase cost per student of $191, raising it from $7,641 to $7,832, bringing the district $849,603. Denham said there is another house bill tied to teacher pay proposing a three percent SSA increase. If that passes, it would increase $229 per student to $7,870, and provide MCSD with slightly more than $1 million.
"At this point, we will wait and see what happens with the folks down in Des Moines," he said.
Marshalltown certified student enrollment did drop from 5,374 to 5,352. Denham explained the certified enrollment is what is used for the budget.
He also spoke about the role of tax rates on the budget and stressed the majority of the tax rate is not subject to local discretion. Taking note of comments made by residents, Denham added that last spring, there was a 20 percent increase in property valuations.
"However, the school district tax rates operates off of taxable valuations. So while that 20 percent increase has a rollback applied to it, our taxable property valuations only increased eight percent this year," he said. "Beyond this next fiscal year, we're going to expect to see a scale back from the 8 percent sticker shock from the sharp increases in the valuations last year. Going beyond next year, we're going to be looking at 2 to 3 percent increases."
Superintendent Theron Schutte asked if it would be fair to say the rate has not kept pace with inflation. Denham told him that would be very fair to say, in addition to SSA, which has not kept up with inflation.
In a district with a lot of students and poor properties, he said the tax dollars work harder to generate what is needed.
"For the current year, we rank the sixth lowest out of 327 districts," Denham said. "Okoboji reclaimed the top spot . . . Ottumwa is the lowest."
He wanted to remind everyone the district is not the only taxing entity.
"We are a large piece of the tax levy authority in the city of Marshalltown, but there are other entities as well," Denham said. "As I talk about these new processes coming up, folks will see that in the next few weeks."
Some budget changes he wanted to highlight is the budget certification deadline changing from April 15 to April 30. Another is a separate public hearing must be held regarding tax statements being mailed. The district must also submit information to the county auditor by March 15.
Board member Zach Wahl said he noticed two things during Denham's review. The first is there are fewer students open enrolling to another district, and he asked what that could be attributed to. Schutte said he thinks that is because the district is doing a better job at marketing what the district offers, particularly as it relates to the secondary level.
"Parents weren't able to compare the experiences their kids would have," he said. "So we try to do a better job with that, because oftentimes those decisions are made as their children are heading into preschool."
Wahl said the second thing which he is most excited about is the district's tax rate dropped from $18 to less than $16.
"Compared to other entities across the city, we're one of the few that have gone down," he said.
In other business, the board:
Approved sign-on bonuses for new hires of the district. Director of Human Resources and Equity Nora Ryan said the bonuses -- $5,000 with a three-year commitment -- would only be for certain positions, which are K-12 special education, music, art, librarian and ELL teachers; secondary math and science teachers; middle school dual language social studies; dual language teachers at Woodbury; and family and consumer science and industrial art instructors. She said the bonus would require a three-year commitment. The sign-on bonus would have to be paid back if the new hire leaves before the three-year mark. According to Ryan, these positions have historically been difficult to fill, and while she could not provide proof the bonuses have helped bring employees in, she said it does set the district apart. Wahl asked if the bonuses could be given to people already employed at MCSD in other positions, but who are willing to fill the desired positions. Ryan told him the bonuses are only for new hires to the district, with the exception for special education. If a current MCSD employee wanted to fill one of the special education positions, that employee would be able to get the bonus. She added not only will the employee get the bonus, but the district will also pay tuition for the employee to get the special education endorsements.
The board approved the purchase and installation of surveillance systems through Convergint. Director of Technology Amy Harmsen said it would be paid for by the Iowa School Safety Grant, which provides up to $50,000 for each school building to address security concerns.
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.