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CESA presenter walks Germantown board through revenue-limit "pie," shows districtauthority and mill-rate math

Germantown School District Board of Education · January 21, 2026
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Summary

Sarah Vera of CESA 1 told Germantown board members that the state revenue-limit system constrains how much general fund revenue a district can raise and showed district-specific calculations that produced a revenue-limit authority figure and a 2025-26 mill rate of about $8.15 per $1,000 valuation.

Sarah Vera, a consultant with CESA 1, spent the finance committeesession on Tuesday walking board members through how state revenue limits work and what they mean for Germantown.

Vera used a "pie" analogy to describe the revenue limit: the crust defines the total allowable revenue and the fillings (state aid and local property taxes) determine how that pie is divided. She showed district-specific calculations used to derive base revenue, per-member adjustments and exemptions. "The revenue limit dictates how much general fund revenue a district can raise," Vera said, and then stepped through Germantownnumbers: base revenue, membership (a three-year rolling average), recurring and nonrecurring exemptions, and how state aid is subtracted to determine the levy need.

Key figures presented: Vera walked the committee through the calculation that led to a revenue-limit authority figure in the tens of millions and then to a total tax levy near $45.75 million for 2025-26; she reported a mill rate calculation that produced roughly $8.15 per $1,000 of equalized value for the district in 2025-26. She also explained recurring vs. nonrecurring exemptions and the role of funds 41 and 46 in capital planning.

Why it matters: Revenue limits, Vera said, are built on historic base figures and do not automatically track inflation; enrollment changes affect revenue via a three-year rolling average, producing lagged impacts. The committee discussed how new equalized value on the tax rolls (development coming online outside TIFs) can reduce the mill rate over time and how fund 46 can offer flexibility for planned maintenance.

Committee members asked for clarifications on the pie-chart breakdown, the role of TIF districts and the long-term implications of rising development on equalized value. Vera agreed to double-check one chart that may have inverted the aid/levy slices and to provide follow-up detail at the next session.

The presentation framed the finance committeediscussion that followed and underlined why administrators and trustees repeatedly cited long-range planning and multiyear forecasting as essential to the districtbudgeting approach.