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Luverne School District levy may increase 5.92 percent next year

By
Mavis Fodness

The planned $8 million in health and safety improvements at Luverne Public Schools means the levy may increase by 5.92 percent for next year.
Earlier this year, school board members used their levy authority to pay for necessary upgrades and improvements to the middle/high school facility, which was built in 1956.
Property tax amounts are expected to stay at or lower than the current level due to Ag2School legislation, which reduces the levy impact on agricultural land by at least 40 percent.
The $8 million in facility improvements over the next 20 years comes onto property taxes as the district makes its final payment for the voter-approved 1998 bond referendum to build the elementary school.
At their Sept. 28 meeting, board members set the preliminary levy at $2.6 million, which is $146,990 more than last year.
That amount could be decreased prior to the final levy certification in December, but not increased.
“We need a target set and then we can adjust if needed,” Superintendent Craig Oftedahl said in his report.
A bond referendum vote scheduled for Nov. 7 could affect the levy amount, he said. The impact won’t be known until after the vote.
More information about the district’s finances will be presented during the Truth in Taxation hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21.
 
In other business, board members:
•approved 3.5-percent salary increases retroactive to the start of the 2016-17 school year and for the 2017-18 school year for principals and the community education director.
The salary for Middle-High School Principal Ryan Johnson is $102,985 and $105,589 for the two school years respectively; Elementary Principal Stacy Gillette, $106,750 and $110,486; and Community Education Director Karen Willers, $58,877 and $60,937.
•signed a construction and program management contract with architects Foster, Jacobs & Johnson Inc., Minneapolis, for the board-approved health and safety improvements. The agreement would also extend to the $16 million and $7 million referendum projects if approved by voters.
•hired Doris Apel as two-hour food service worker.
•approved a medical leave request for Lynette Stensland from Oct. 23 to Nov. 30.

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