Fairfield school district to increase tax levy, but impact will be minimal

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Community School District Board of Directors plans to raise its tax levy next school year, but local taxpayers will hardly notice the difference thanks to legislation from the state government.

The school district’s current tax levy is $10.59 per $1,000 of taxable valuation, and the board plans to increase that number to $12.42 for the 2024-25 school year. However, Fairfield School Business Official Evan Marten said this won’t necessarily lead to a larger tax bill for the district’s residents. That’s because the Iowa Legislature changed the “rollback” for property taxes, meaning property owners now pay taxes on a smaller portion of their property.

The old rollback was 54 percent of the assessed value of residential property, meaning residential property owners only paid taxes on 54 percent of the value of their property. For this upcoming 2024-25 school year, the rollback is even larger, so taxpayers will be assessed on only 46 percent of their property.

Marten said the larger rollback will basically cancel out the district’s higher tax levy. Actually, he said that, assuming the property owner’s home stays the same value in 2024-25, a residential property owner in Fairfield will pay slightly less in taxes to the school district. For instance, the owner of a $100,000 home would have paid $579 to the school district for the 2023-24 academic year, but after the proposed changes to the district’s levy and the new rollback number, that same taxpayer would pay $576 next year, so $3 less.

Those figures could change, for a couple of reasons. First of all, Marten is aware that some properties are rising in value, as judged by the county assessor’s office, so if the value of a person’s property rises, they will owe more in taxes. At the same time, Marten said the district’s proposed levy of $12.42 per $1,000 of taxable valuation is likely to go down once the school board learns how much money it will receive in Supplemental State Aid.

Marten said the school district’s proposed general fund budget for next year shows revenues of roughly $24.76 million and expenses of roughly $22.42 million. That takes into account the $1.1 million budget cut the board approved in February that eliminated 13.5 staff positions. Martin said that having revenues exceed expenses is very important because it allows the district to build its cash reserves. He said that guidance from school financial experts is to have cash reserves equal to between 8-15 percent of the district’s annual budget.

The school board held the first public hearing on its levy on Monday, March 25, and it will hold another public hearing on the levy and the 2024-25 budget at its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 15. Marten said this would be the time for members of the public to offer their thoughts. However, they should understand that the public comment portion of the meeting is not intended as a back-and-forth with school board members.

“The school board meets in public, but not with the public,” Marten said. “That’s in accordance with our Sunshine Law.”

Fairfield School Board President Tai Ward said he expects the board to have to make further cuts to its budget next year, though the board hopes to do so without having to cut so many staff positions like it did this year. He said that Fairfield voters passing an increase to the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy on March 5 was a good step in that direction, because that will ease some of the strain on the district’s general fund that goes to pay for staff salaries and curriculum.

A couple of other items on the horizon for the board include a possible contract with the district’s teachers union. Ward said negotiations between the board and union have gone well, and that the two sides could ratify a new contract as early as Friday, March 29. The other item of interest is that the board will meet with its architectural firm FEH Designs next week to discuss the possibility of taking out a general obligation bond for a new building.

Based on a needs assessment and survey of residents conducted last fall, FEH Designs informed the board that the public would support a $24 million general obligation bond for a new building with four grades in it. Ward said the board is still discussing whether to try for such a bond this year or wait until next year, and deciding which grades to put in the new building. He said the district’s biggest need is a middle school, given that its facilities director spends more of his time at FMS than the other buildings. He said the high school is a little bigger than it needs to be to accommodate its students, while Washington Elementary is “jam packed,” so the board might consider reconfiguring which grades go to which buildings.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com