School officials shaping budget

School officials say the tax rate on a mailer sent to Monticello Community School District residents does not reflect what residents will actually pay in property taxes next year. 

Both Monticello Superintendent Brian Jaeger and Monticello School District Business Manager Marcy Gillmore said the number merely reflects a starting point for the district to whittle down its expenses before settling on a final rate that the school board will approve later. 

“There is a difference between the proposed levy rates and the final version,” Jaeger said. “We (were) required to get this in (to the state) by March 5. We set it to what we feel like is the first-case scenario and published it at a higher rate than what it will end up at. My hope is at the end of the day, and after public hearings and discussion with the board for a final vote at the end of April, we can land in a place that is similar to where we are this year.” 

The mailing, which county auditors across the state mailed out earlier this month, notifies property owners of proposed tax rates for local taxing entities, including counties, cities and school districts, for fiscal year 2027, which runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. However, the information does not reflect the property owner’s own tax bill. It shows proposed maximum levy rates and provides a generic example, which officials say leads to widespread confusion.

The current Monticello Community School District levy rate is $15.87 per $1,000 of taxable property value, according to school board documents, and the proposed levy rate at this time is $16.58 per $1,000. The amount each property is taxed can vary greatly due to assessed values and state-regulated rollbacks. 

This levy rate number, Jaeger emphasized, will change. 

“We look at numbers and projections we have out there, and we are just trying to make the best of it and give the board maximum chance to make decisions.”

For the first time, the district will be in budget guarantee next fiscal year, which is a state law that ensures schools see at least a 1% increase in their state supplemental aid from the previous year. Since school funding is tied to enrollment, districts like Monticello with declining enrollment are put on budget guarantee in years when the state’s annual funding allocation does not increase their funding by at least 1%. This year’s supplemental state aid was approved by the Legislature at 2%. 

Jaeger said the district will see $77,000 in additional funding compared to last year -- a number that he says is not sustainable and could lead to difficult cuts in the future.

“We haven’t been funded completely by the state, so we need to find other ways to do that,” Jaeger told the Express. “If we get $77,000 in new dollars, $65,000 of that will go to our increases in health insurance premiums (10-12%). That takes up the majority of it. It leaves us with about $11,000 on paper that we can use for increases in costs and wage increases.”

Jaeger said while the casual viewer may not necessarily see “cuts,” the loss of services has become evident behind school doors as the Iowa Legislature has consistently funded schools below the rate of inflation. 

“We lost a school nurse over (last) summer and did not refill that position,” Jaeger said. “We have one nurse now to meet all our requirements and we have health assistants.”

He said the district also eliminated a counselor’s position to save money. 

“We did those things last year to give us some breathing room to be able to create enough funds so we could give raises to our staff, at least something,” Jaeger said. “Around 80% of our budget comes down to staff. We’ve been cutting for 10 years since I’ve been here, and we are down to a point where we have cut everything. We have saved probably $1 million over the last 10 years, and we keep finding ways to meet the margins. But there will be a time when we are down to the bare bones and where we need to make some tough decisions.”

The district also must absorb cost increases in fuel, electricity and other utilities as well, Jaeger said. To save on natural gas costs, Monticello School District is a member of the Iowa Local Government Rick Pool Commission, which uses the buying power of its members to reduce their overall cost of natural gas. MCSD pays a lump sum to the commission to cover its natural gas costs for the year.

The district held the first of two public hearings related to the proposed tax levy rate and budget at the March 23 meeting. No one from the public attended. 

The second public hearing will take place at 6 p.m. April 27 in the board room located in Monticello High School. Any member of the public can attend. 

Virtual learning day

The board approved an additional six hours of virtual study to the district’s school year calendar. 

Given the number of snow days this past winter, the district was projected to fall under the state’s required 1080 hours of instructional time by six hours. Instead of adding a school day to the end of the year -- which would bring students back for one day on the Tuesday following Memorial Day -- the district will add six hours of virtual learning instead. 

“I think there will be more valuable educational content on that virtual day than coming back on that Tuesday,” said board member Creighton Randolph.

In other business

• The board approved the purchase of 235 Chromebook computers from CNB System Liquidation for $89,065, or $379 per device. CNB’s bid was among four received by the district ranging up to $124,413. Robyn Ponder, the district’s curriculum and special programs director, said the district uses Chromebooks for three years before swapping them out. 

• The board approved the personnel report, which included hiring Jon Kyte as the new varsity football coach and Hillary Hansen as a high school special education teacher for the 2026-27 school year. The personnel report also included the transfer of Dylan Shaffer from eight-grade science teacher to a district-wide talented and gifted teacher role beginning in the 2026-27 school year. 

• The board approved the first change order connected to the new elementary school project. The change order includes a $28,549 cost increase to the project’s total bill, which now sits at $23,031,549. Change orders are typical in large-scale projects and are generated by unforeseen issues or added costs not previously budgeted. This particular change order covers the cost of an alignment issue with the storm sewer piping under the school. The required work included removing 20 feet of pipe and slicing out part of the manholes to raise the system up. This was labor intensive, said Brent Jackman with OPN Architects, which is the project’s architectural firm. Board members Craig Stadtmueller and Randolph questioned if the issue with the pipes could have been avoided. 

“I don’t think you can blame the contractor,” Jackman said. 

“This feels like contractor error to me,” Stadtmueller said. “It seems pretty avoidable, but I do know that we need to move forward.” 

A future change order will include an increase to the number of toilets in the restrooms adjacent to the new elementary gym, an increase in gym seats and the installation of an additional exit door from the gymnasium into the cafeteria. OPN’s Katie Harms said these changes were made to adhere to new state law regarding occupancy loads for assembly spaces. 

• Jaeger said work on the district’s five-year strategic plan is humming away and anticipates holding meetings with different interest groups -- parents, students, staff -- between April 15 and April 22 to gather themes and an action plan.