School District Property Tax Levies Set By Statute, Not Rising Valuations

(KNSI) – District 742 has to try and control inflation without seeing any of the benefits of increased property values.

Executive Director of Finance and Business Services Amy Skaalerud says the state controls what a district can collect, independent of trends in the real estate market.

“The school district levies a specific dollar amount based on statutory calculations, which is different than other entities like cities and counties that set a tax rate and then apply the rate to each property.”

At the same time, other inflationary pressures have contributed to higher costs for transportation, among many other expenses. Skaalerud says the property tax levy is going up by five percent but that must be held in reserve to fund long-term facilities maintenance and not used for the operations budget. She says short-term COVID funding has helped St. Cloud Area Schools bridge the gap for now.

Skaalerud says the dynamic means the overall tax rate will fall sharply.

“Our converted rates — if we convert our dollar amount levy to a rate, last year for the levy was about 25%. That’s going down to about 22.7% with the current levy.”

The fiscal year ends on June 30th but staffing levels and several other decisions will be made early next year.

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