District submits levy rates, planning for two outcomes

With an April 30 deadline looming, Marcy Gillmore, business manager of the Monticello Community School District, was left with no choice but to submit a tax levy figure significantly higher than what the actual number will likely be.
Like school districts across the state, the MCSD was still waiting for Gov. Kim Reynolds to sign the State Supplemental Assistance increase of 2 percent that was approved by the Iowa Legislature in early April.
All of this was discussed at the regular meeting of the Monticello School Board April 28.
Districts had to submit a levy rate by 4 p.m. April 30, without knowing for sure whether the 2 percent increase would be signed by Reynolds.
So, Gillmore submitted a rate that was approved by the board, taking a zero percent increase into account, of $16.03653 per $1,000 of valuation, with a management fund of $400,000.
“We would submit it at the zero percent,”Gillmore said at the meeting, “just to make sure that if for some reason it wasn’t signed and didn’t go through, we’d still have the money to support next year.”
“That’s the safety net,” Superintendent Brian Jaeger said in an interview late last week.
Gillmore said she planned to submit the figure by noon, well before the 4 p.m. deadline, to be on the safe side.
At the meeting, the board also approved a rate of $15.86502, this time with the 2 percent increase figured in, provided the governor eventually signs that. If she does, the district can then make the switch to the lower rate.
“If she signs it after I submit it, it automatically goes down to what the 2 percent would be, so we wouldn’t have to do anything else at that point,” Gillmore said.
“We have to plan for both contingencies,” Jaeger said.
Both figures included a management fund of $400,000, an income surtax rate of .06 and a PPEL tax of .01.