Finance chief warns fund balance will be needed to cover shortfalls in coming years

Mrs. Lenz, the district finance director, presented the final Finance Committee update on the 2026–27 budget and five‑year projections, calling attention to assessed-value trends, collection-rate history and revenue scenarios.

She said the district’s assessed-value average since 2017 is about 2.04% annually but that omitting a 2021–22 outlier yields a 1.65% average. She told the committee the historical real-estate tax collection rate averages about 96.23%, and the administration built a 96% collection assumption into the 2026–27 budget. "A home with a median assessed value of 181,700 would equate to an annual increase of $103.79," she said when presenting the homeowner impact under the proposed scenario. Using a 3.5% mill-rate increase in year one and lower indexing thereafter, the administration projects roughly $333,940 in additional revenue at a 96% collection rate.

Yet Mrs. Lenz warned the committee that even under those assumptions the district “doesn't have the ability to be able to generate sufficient revenues to cover projected expenses” in later years and will rely heavily on fund balance. After enrollment and cyber‑charter adjustments, the proposed 2026–27 budget showed a remaining deficit of $13,657, close to balanced.

Board members pressed for clarity on tax reporting and receipts. Mr. Booth and others pointed out discrepancies between month‑by‑month reports and year‑to‑date forms; Mrs. Lenz explained installments are coded separately (function 6117) and cautioned against treating numbers as final until fiscal year end because of potential refunds. Members proposed modest tweaks to assumptions — including moving the collection assumption to 96.5%, increasing the real‑estate transfer projection to $400,000 from $375,000, raising estimated investment earnings, and eliminating a $100,000 budgetary reserve — to tighten the projection and avoid overstating the need for tax increases.

The committee set a final calendar: another finance meeting is scheduled for June 8 to receive any late state information, and the board will consider adopting the final budget, tax rates and homestead/farmstead reduction at that June 8 meeting.

The presentation included a review of locally authorized revenue options (per-capita levies under Acts 1511/679, earned-income tax increases, local services tax limits and real-estate transfer tax constraints). Mrs. Lenz said earned‑income tax increases would require a formal tax‑commission study and a voter referendum and that several local options are not implementable in time for the 2026–27 budget.