Appointment of a new board member, presentation of the annual audit and approval of the 2015 payable 2016 levy were among the items on the agenda at the regular meeting of the Becker Board of Education Monday night.

 

The board had advertised a vacancy after Director Phil Norgaard announced that he would be leaving the area to take up a position with a firm in Ohio last month. Norgaard was appointed to the board last December to fill a vacancy left by a resignation, and had served several terms on the board in the recent past. Applications for the one-year term were received from district residents Ross Demant and Connie Robinson, both of which were described by Chairman Aaron Jurek as “excellent candidates” for the position.

 

During the discussion that followed, Board Member Bryan Olson said his experience with Demant working on the activities committee led him to lean in his favor for the position.  After some further discussion and with no objection raised, the board voted unanimously to offer Demant the one-year term.  Votes were cast by Jurek, Vice-Chair Jason Kindred, Treasurer Lori Molus and Olson. Board Member Mark Swanson was unable to attend the meeting.

 

The board asked for any persons at the meeting who wished to make a public comment on the appointment to do so, but no one stepped forward before the vote.

 

CPA Nancy Schulzetenberg from the accounting firm of Kern DeWenter Viere presented the annual school district audit, which was without blemish barring two minor findings in the areas of office procedures and state regulation compliance.

 

As published in Supt. Dr. Stephen Malone’s meeting notes, the audited general funs summary shows a beginning fund balance of $845,285 on July 1, 2014, revenues and other funding of $27,291,439, expenditures of $27,574,763 for a net change in the fund balance of $283,324 and an ending fund balance as of June 30, 2015 of $561,961. That fund balance represents a decrease of $96,959 from the previous year.  District Policy 714 states that the district will “strive to maintain a minimum unassigned general fund balance of 8%”, Malone noted.

 

Upon presentation, the board unanimously approved the annual audit.

 

Director of Business Services Joe Prom presented the annual Truth in Taxation materials at the meeting, along with the 2015 payable 2016 levy total of $9,712,083.  The 2014 levy totaled $7,584,281, a dollar difference of $2,127,802 or 28.06 per cent increase.

 

The general fund portion of the new levy is $5,916,455, compared to $4,050,001 the previous year.  The Community Ed. fund raised $2,232 to $201,754, as contrasted with $199,522 last year.  The debt service fund raised $259,116 to $3,593,874 compared to $3,334,758 last year.

 

The general fund levy changes as presented include an overall $1,866,454 increase, $1,655,841 in operating referendum levies being the result of approval of Question One and Question Two in the November referendum election.  The health and safety levy decreased by $133,369, Prom said, and deferred maintenance decreased by $150,053. Health and safety and deferred maintenance are now replaced by the long-term facilities maintenance levy, which increased by $426,733.

 

Property taxes are determined by a four-step process.  First, the county assessor determines the market value of a parcel of property.  The State Legislature then sets formulas for tax capacity which decide how the tax burden is split among different types of property.  The county auditor then calculates the tax capacity for each parcel using the results from the first two steps.  The county auditor then divides the total levy by the total tax capacity of the district to determine the tax rate.

 

For specific levy questions, contact Director of Business Services Joe Prom at jprom@isd726.org, or by phone at (763) 261-4502.  Questions on property values should be addressed to the Sherburne County Assessor’s Office at assessor@co.sherburne.mn.us,or by phone at (763) 241-2880.

 

The complete PDF presentations of the audit and the levy are available on the district web site in the school board meeting notes section.