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Northland Pines electors approve $19.37 million levy after budget hearing
Summary
Electors at the Northland Pines School District annual meeting approved a $19,367,023 tax levy for fiscal year 2024-25 after a budget presentation showing projected revenues of about $29.20 million and projected expenses of about $29.76 million, resulting in a planned draw on fund balance to cover a roughly $500,000 shortfall.
Electors at the Northland Pines School District annual meeting approved a proposed tax levy of $19,367,023 for the 2024-25 fiscal year following a budget presentation to the assembled electors and board members.
Tara Fritz, who provided the district’s budget proposal materials, told the meeting that projected revenues total $29,203,792 — a decline she described as roughly 9 percent below the prior year’s actuals — and that projected expenses are $29,755,728, a roughly 6 percent decrease from last year. That gap produces a projected shortfall the presenter initially cited as about $511,000 and then referenced as about $500,000; she said the district’s current fund balance and prior interest earnings can finance the deficit.
Fritz explained that the levy is the basis for the budget and that electors at the meeting were being asked to decide whether to support the proposed levy. She and board members also noted that a nonrecurring referendum to fund construction of a new high school passed in 2004 (67 percent in favor) had previously increased levy obligations for debt service; that referendum debt payment, which included a final payment of about $2,484,300 last year, no longer appears in the levy this year, reducing the district’s debt-related levy pressure.
A board member emphasized how property reassessments can make individual tax bills vary even when the mill rate changes, and reiterated that the board is in the sixth year of an operating referendum cycle and intends to manage future referendum requests carefully. The board member said the state has authorized additional per-pupil levy capacity (the presenter and board member discussed a $325 per-student allowance) and that the district plans to use available authority to maintain staffing and multiple campuses.
After discussion and an opportunity for questions — none were raised from the floor at that time — a motion to approve the $19,367,023 levy was made and carried by voice vote, with eligible electors present responding in the affirmative.
