Lower referendum interest rate is good news for Rib Lake taxpayers

As expected after passing a $19.5 million referendum last spring, the school portion of property taxes in the Rib Lake School District will increase this tax season.

What is unexpected good news for taxpayers is that it will not be going up as much as projected before the referendum vote.

At Monday’s annual meeting electors for the Rib Lake School District approved a debt service tax levy of $1,2626,403. District administrator Travis Grubbs noted that prior to the referendum being approved, projections were for that amount to be over $1.3 million. He said the district benefited from timing in getting a better interest rate which will allow payments to be lower and save taxpayers money over the course of the project.

District taxpayers also got good news from the open enrollment report. According to Grubbs, the district’s ongoing goal is to be neutral in regards to gaining or losing students due to open enrollment. The open enrollment process allows parents to have their children attend other school districts. When they do so, the bulk of state aids for those students follows them to the district where they attend school.

Grubbs noted that in the past two years the district has been negative 15 students due to open enrollment. He said they were very close to being neutral this year with only be negative one student due to open enrollment following the third Friday count.

“This time next year, I hope to give you a positive number,” Grubbs said, noting that by reducing the number leaving the district, Rib Lake will be able to retain those aids and the amount of revenue able to be received by the district, saving the district about $90,000.

The district also saw a slight increase in overall enrollment with three additional students. The district has seen an increase in enrollment the past three years.

The 2024-2025 budget calls for about $7.5 million in spending for general educational expenses. In addition there are $18.8 million in referendum projects that will take place beginning with construction in spring 2025 as well as money levied through the community service fund (Fund 80) which covers things like the school’s fitness center and other things open to the community.

State aids account for 66.1% of the general fund budget for the district with the local tax levy being 22.6% of the total. The remainder is from other districts in the state and federal sources of revenue.

The total 2024-2025 levy is $2,941,903. This includes general fund, debt service and the community services fund. This is up from a total levy of $2,395,017 in 20232024, a difference of $546,886. About $504,662 of the increase is directly from increased debt service due to the referendum.

Grubbs said another factor is the large jump in equalized value in the district in the past year. The district saw a jump in equalized value of about 9.9% which results in a lower overall tax rate.

However, Grubbs noted most of that growth was not due to new construction but was rather inflationary increases in property values.

The projected tax rate for school use is $7.01 per $1,000 of equalized value. This is up $.74 per $1,000 of value from last year’s rate of $6.27 per $1,000 of value meaning the owner of a $200,000 home will pay about $142 more in school taxes this tax year compared to last year.

The proposed budget and tax levy remain projected until state aid amounts are finalized in the next week. The school board will finalize the budget and levy at its regular meeting on October 30.

In other annual meeting action, residents:

• Approved allowing the district to do short-term borrowing for cashflow purposes. District reserve funds are sufficient to cover district operations for about 48 days between getting revenue from either tax payments or state aids. At a special board meeting following the annual meeting, board members approved short term borrowing at a rate of 6.95% which is higher than recent years due to having to use taxable borrowing to avoid limits with the referendum. Grubbs noted the actual cost will be fairly low since the state aids will be received in November.

• Received word that 395 dual credits were earned by Rib Lake students last school year saving families in the district about $55,116 in tuition payments, which is up 9% from the prior year.

• Approved routine resolutions authorizing the district to provide textbooks, undertake legal action, set the wages for school board members and purchase and operate vehicles. These are unchanged from prior years.