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Edina district previews 2026 property tax certification, projects modest revenue growth
Summary
Finance director Mert Woodard outlined the district's preliminary levy process, noting enrollment rebound to record highs, anticipated modest levy increases and next steps including a special meeting Sept. 23 and the district’s truth-and-taxation hearing on Dec. 8.
Mert Woodard, the Edina Public School District director of finance and operations, told the school board on Monday that the district will present a fuller, parcel-level property tax certification next week after the Department of Education and Hennepin County finalize numbers the district needs to complete the levy report.
Woodard said the district’s most important revenue driver is enrollment. He reported that fiscal-year 2024–25 average daily membership ended at 8,711 students, above the 8,630 figure used in last year’s levy. Using cohort-survival methods, administration’s conservative estimate for next year’s enrollment is about 8,735 students.
Woodard reviewed major levy categories and preliminary impacts. He said the voter-approved operating referendum is tied to inflation and is expected to produce roughly $1.2 million in new revenue for next school year to cover collective-bargaining and inflationary costs. He reported specific adjustments for the prior year’s levy authority: the district levied $2,197 per pupil for the operating referendum but actual authority will be nearer $2,205; for fiscal year 26 the levied figure of $2,261 is expected to translate to roughly $2,274 in authority; next-year cap estimates were presented at $2,340.76.
The capital projects levy (the technology/ capital levy) is projected at just under $9.5 million — an increase of about $286,000, or 3.12 percent, over the current year, Woodard said. Debt-service and long-term facilities maintenance activity will also affect tax rates; Woodard said the district is planning changes that result in a combined roughly $3 million increase between debt service and the long-term facilities pay-as-you-go program.
Woodard described the certification timeline and next steps: administration will present a detailed levy certification to the finance and facilities committee the following week and to the full board at a special Sept. 23 meeting; Hennepin County will mail parcel-specific notices in November; the district’s truth-and-taxation hearing is scheduled for Dec. 8 with final certification afterward; taxes collected beginning May 2026 will fund about 35 percent of fiscal-year 2027 operations.
Board members asked procedural questions. Director Mann asked whether the board must act by the statutory Sept. 30 deadline even if the Department of Education’s report is late; Woodard said the district can certify at the maximum allowed and adjust downward in December if necessary but that the administration expects to avoid that step and provide accurate figures next week.
Woodard closed by noting kindergarten enrollment remains a metric the district is watching; he said current kindergarten counts (about 560) are below the budgeted 580 and that he will present a fuller enrollment analysis at forthcoming committee meetings.
