Tax levy down 7.4% for Lena schools

Lena residents approved a $1.6 million tax levy for Lena Public Schools, down 7.4 percent from last year’s levy of $1.73 million. The tax rate will be determined in late October when all figures are finalized and the School Board certifies the tax levy. In a budget presented at the annual meeting Sept. 23, expenditures were up 6.8 percent, to $4.86 million. Expenses exceed revenues by about $100,000. According to School Superintendent David Honish, a slight increase in enrollment will help offset that deficit because the district will receive more state aid than anticipated. The district budgeted for $2.7 million in general state aid, an increase of about $218,000 over last year. For the third year in a row, elementary school enrollment outnumbers the middle and high school combined. “We’re excited about that. It certainly is a positive sign for us for the future,” Honish said. Honish was also pleased the district added over $100,000 to its fund balance, bringing its total to $1.49 million. “Having stability in our fund balance is crucial,” he said. It enables the district to perform maintenance of the buildings, without affecting programming for students, he explained. The district is in its third year of a five-year, $2 million referendum to maintain programming, update technology and complete structural repairs of the building. Referendum funding covered the cost of asbestos removal in the school in 2011 and 2012 and will cover the upcoming maintenance of a rooftop air-handling unit. Honish said the referendum funding has been critical to the district’s success, but it may not be the best way to provide revenue for schools. “I’m concerned with the funding formulas for schools in general, and I wish the referendum wasn’t the tool for maintaining programs,” he said. “I don’t like to put a burden on local taxpayers to do that, but unfortunately the funding formula makes it tough for us to maintain programs.” “The way the economy is, to depend on referendums year after year is going to be pretty tough to do,” he said.