Austin Public Schools’ 2015 tax levy will increase by about 5.7 percent from 2014.

The Austin Public Schools Board approved the 2015 levy Monday evening at the regular board meeting and truth in taxation meeting at the City Council Chambers. The levy is set at $6,885,225.21.

“For a homeowner whose assessed value stays the same, it’s about a 2.4 to a 2.7 percent increase,” Finance and Operations Director Mark Stotts said.

Stotts said if the value of the home changes, the increase in taxes will also change.

“It’s so hard to generalize, it’s really on a property by property basis,” he said.

He estimated a larger tax increase in agriculture and commercial properties due to increases in value in the last few years. For residential homes that are valued at $150,000, the increase will be up by about $14, versus homes valued at $400,000 which will go up about $43. Commercial properties valued at $200,000 are estimated to increase about $31, whereas properties valued at $950,000 are projected to rise by about $119. Agricultural properties valued at $250,000 could have an increase of about $18.

Superintendent David Krenz said the district is mindful of the effects on local taxes.

“We’ve been conscious, we continue to be conscious, of anything and everything we do that will have an impact on the local tax,” he said.

The biggest area of increase is mainly from health and safety projects that were approved by the state, such as fire marshal orders and health code upgrades, things that are beyond the control of the school district. Some of the increase also comes from an increase in student population.

“These are all formula-driven levies; it isn’t like [the board is] arbitrarily raising property taxes, so I would say it’s more of an issue with the state legislature than it is with your local school board, because the state legislature is determining the levy limits,” Stotts said.

Although the levy will increase for 2015, after decreasing in both 2013 and 2014, it is still below the roughly $7 million levy in 2012.

“We’re still not up to the level of property taxes that we were collecting in 2012, so you kind of take the good with the bad, and if you average the last three years out it’s been a decrease in property taxes,” Stotts said. “So, do we like a 5.7 percent increase this year? No, but given the fact that they have went down the last two years, I guess it’s somewhat reasonable.”

Audit

The board also discussed the 2013-2014 school audit, which went well.

“This year, last year 2013-2014, we ran a deficit of close to $700,000, but that was a planned deficit, and we had adequate reserves to absorb that deficit,” Stotts said. “This year we anticipate we’re going to run a balanced budget or even maybe even a little bit of a surplus.”

Stotts said after opening the new school, which added about $1 million in expenses, the district is financially in good shape overall.

“We have adequate fund reserves and you know, we’re just going to go forward from here,” he said.

According to Stotts, Austin has not made budget cuts for years, and they don’t foresee needing to make any cuts in the near future.

“A lot of that’s contributable to our growing enrollments, that as we grow we receive more revenue,” he said.

He noted the general fund, as well as the food service fund and the community service fund, were all managed well.

“There’s always going to be needs in a school district, that you can’t necessarily address them all in one year, and so you do the best you can,” Stotts said. “Overall I think our class sizes, particularly in the elementary schools, are in really good shape, compared to our peer districts, I think we’re getting the technology in the district that we need, … we’ve really made advances in that area.”

He added, “I think overall this is really a good district from that financial perspective and we’re doing some great things.”