The Austin School Board voted to certify its proposed property tax levy during Monday’s study session.

Officials gathered at Banfield Elementary School for their study session, in which, the board approved to certify the proposed property tax levy of 3.29 percent. School boards are required to certify proposed property tax levies to its home county auditor by Sept. 30 of every year, and to the Minnesota Department of Education by Oct. 7. Austin School Board is mandated to adopt its final property tax levy and certify the levy to its auditor no later than five working days after Dec. 20.

According to Mark Stotts, executive director of finance and operations, the reasoning behind the proposed 3.29 percent levy increase was because of growing student enrollment. School district property tax levies are limited by state law, unlike city and county levies.

The Minnesota Department of Education is responsible for determining levy limits for each type of levy for all school districts statewide, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

The state computes the levy limitation, then the school district has to certify the levy to the county auditor, then the county sends out the tax statements, collects the tax and makes the payments to the school districts.

“We are different than county and city because we do not have the discretionary levy authority,” Stotts told the board. “We have very little control over this. You’ve done a good job managing the district. There are just some things out of your control since the state legislature sets the formulas.”