ELY – School Board members here Monday night adopted a final 2020 levy that is nearly one percent lower than last year. The payable 2020 levy is $1,797,064, a $14,395 decrease from the 2019 levy of $1,811,459.
At the Truth in Taxation hearing held at the beginning of the regular school board meeting, ISD 696 Superintendent Erik Erie noted that the levy funds collected from property taxpayers are just 20 percent of the district’s total revenue for 2019-2020 of $8,694,165.
Erie told board members and the handful of school staff present at the hearing that adjustments to the levy are required when changes are made to state and federal aid. “Student enrollment was lower than anticipated on previous levies and the state adjusts the levy to reflect the actual enrollment,” he said. “We don’t qualify for Career Tech levy dollars this year, and the state equalization calculations change the aid/levy split on an annual basis.”
Erie listed health benefits increases, especially the increases to retiree health insurance, and a lease levy increase for the ice arena and the Northland Learning Center as the main factors pushing the levy higher. Those were offset by a levy decrease for re-employment insurance.
Taconite production credits, based on state mines’ prior three years of production, reduces the property taxpayers’ obligation. For the 2020 levy, taconite credits of $70,593 are $23,035 more than the 2019 levy of $47,558.
“If we didn’t have any taconite production credits, our levy would actually be higher,” Erie said. He noted that the credit is not actually additional revenue for the district. “That revenue replaces the revenue that would have been collected from property owners.”
ISD 696’s portion of the taconite production credit is the lowest, by far, of other districts on the Iron Range. The next highest district that qualifies for the credits is Aitkin at $154,864 for 2020. Most districts qualify for an average of $500,000 in taconite credits. Hibbing tops the list next year with $1,438,832 in taconite production credits. “I notice the disparity between Ely and nearby districts, even Aitkin and Cook County get significantly more property tax reduction from mining,” he said.
No taxpayers addressed the board at the public hearing.
Facilities project
Erie’s update to the board on the progress of the facilities renovation project highlighted the next steps anticipated in the process. “As you know, we have grown from looking at the original $1.9 million building connection to looking at something more substantial,” he said.
In a conference call last week with school finance consultants, Ehlers, Inc., Erie said he reviewed the district’s outstanding bonds and discussed potential financing options. A meeting last week with Architectural Resources Inc. and the Costin Group, the district’s lobbying firm, included a discussion of ARI’s anticipated presentation to the school board at a study session on Monday, Dec. 16, “We are beginning to look at options on where we go from here,” he said. “We don’t want to lose our momentum on this.”
He highlighted the increased emphasis on 21st century learning programs. “We are looking at the spaces we might need to support that,” Erie said. “Our principals are surveying students and staff for feedback on educational opportunities.”
Later in the meeting school board member Rochelle Sjoberg commented on what she referred to as a “simple statement” made last month by lobbyist Gary Cerkvenik when he offered other options for district officials to consider, including an “off-the-cuff thought” of tearing down the Industrial Arts building.
“I want to make sure that we are being cognizant and respectful of the survey results, and that we are all very clear of where the community supports us and those amounts,” Sjoberg said. “As we look at larger-scale plans, the intent behind that dialogue is not to 100-percent impact taxpayers. We are looking to other means above and beyond the taxpayers, like IRRR (Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation)or other opportunities.”
Erie agreed. “We hope to get some other options from ARI on what we can do with certain levels of funding.” He added that Cerkvenik is “working behind the scenes” with IRRR, and “nothing has been nailed down.”
The idea of razing of the Industrial Arts building resonated through the Ely community with varying degrees of pushback and concern and Erie asserted, “That was just one option thrown out there.”
Erie said he asked ARI to present information on the cost of completely renovating the Industrial Arts building for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) educational uses versus the cost to erect a new building.
“Gary (Cerkvenik) will probably be able to give us a better indication of what he thinks we will be able to do with IRRR support,” Erie said. “We are also talking with the principals about (educational) programs and what spaces we need for that.”
Other business
In other action, the board:
Approved a new contract with the district’s AFSCME employees that calls for a two-percent raise in the first year and a one-percent raise in the second year of the two-year agreement.
Approved, on a 4-1 vote, a $2,000 stipend for district business manager Spencer Aune for additional work performed outside his current contract.
Approved the city of Ely Tax Incremental Financing waiver following a discussion with Ely Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski on the TIF district adjustments;
Approved meal reimbursement rates for 2020 district staff travel at $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner.
OK’d the following volunteer assistant girls basketball coachs for the 2019-2020 season, Liz Brandrict, Erin Lowe, Jen Zgong, Missy LaTourell, Mindy LaTourell.