District property tax levy decreases for 2014
January 2, 2014
Moorhead Area Public Schools’ property tax levy will decrease by 3.1 percent for 2014, according to Assistant Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak.
Following a presentation by Kazmierczak at the Dec. 9 School Board meeting, board members approved a resolution to certify the district’s 2013 Payable 2014 Property Tax Levy, which provides revenue for the 2014-15 school year.
The total levy amount is $13.5 million, which is a decrease of $435,537 or 3.1 percent from the 2013 tax levy.
Most of the decrease is because additional state equalization aid reduced the operating referendum levy. Other reductions were from decreases in the school-age care levy and the operating capital levy. The new location equity levy has added $212 per pupil unit, but the operating referendum revenue was reduced this amount, resulting in no net change in revenue. Other increases include the student achievement levy, which is a new levy, and the debt service levy for a scheduled increase in payments for the district’s bonds.
Included in this year’s hearing was information about the economic development property tax abatement that the City of Moorhead, Clay County and Moorhead Area Public Schools approved in September 2012. The district’s estimated abatement for the 2013 assessment is $51,533 for the 96 properties (87 new and nine remodeled) that qualified for the abatement. The actual amount will be included in next year’s levy.
As a normal course of business, the board approved the maximum for the preliminary levy in September. Certifying the maximum for the preliminary levy allowed the district to make adjustments before the final levy was certified on Dec. 9.
A revised budget for fiscal year 2014 will be brought to the board in January. Next year’s budget will be adopted in June 2014.
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