Property owners in the Detroit Lakes School District will see an overall property tax levy increase of just above 7.5 percent in the coming year.
At its regular meeting Monday night, the Detroit Lakes School Board certified the 2014, payable 2015 levy in the amount of $4,006,888 dollars, an increase of $280,406 (7.52 percent) over last year’s levy.
Prior to certifying the levy, the district held its Truth in Taxation hearing, during which Business Manager Ryan Tangen reviewed the district’s 2014-15 budget and discussed the proposed levy in detail.
The board also received the auditor’s report on the district’s 2013-14 budget. Jennifer Piekarski of Kern, Dewenter, Viere, Ltd., who conducted the audit, reported that the district had received an unmodified, or “clean” opinion on its financial statements, the best opinion a school district can receive.
The board also heard from a couple local residents, Carol Retz and Jon Melgaard, representing the district’s boys and girls swimming programs, who requested that a new pool be considered in any plans by the board to build a new high school.
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Both Retz and Melgaard noted that while the pool at the high school and the one at the Detroit Lakes Community & Cultural Center have served the district well in the past, high participation numbers have made a larger pool desirable, both for practices and competitions. Melgaard also noted that there were ways that a new pool could be made self-sustaining for the district.
Board chair Ladd Lyngaas thanked them for coming and said that their comments would be taken into consideration, as no plans for the proposed school facility improvements have yet been finalized.
“We don’t exactly know where the building project is going yet,” Lyngaas said.
Speaking of school construction plans, the board has set another community meeting on the proposed building project for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18 in the high school multi-purpose gymnasium.
However, as Lyngaas noted, the purpose of that meeting - to begin narrowing down the three options still under consideration - is largely dependent upon the district receiving input from the Minnesota Department of Education on the feasibility of the proposals.
Follow Detroit Lakes Newspapers reporter Vicki Gerdes on Twitter at @VickiLGerdes .
