School budget set; tax rate could go down

With state law requiring school districts in Iowa to pass their budget by April 15, the Humboldt School Board met the deadline by approving its 2015-16 budget Monday night (April 13) in a special meeting. After a public hearing, the board approved a budget totaling $22,978,142. The figure is based on a property tax rate of $13.73808 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Since the Iowa Legislature has yet to pass a school funding bill, Humboldt went the route that many other districts in Iowa are taking, passing a budget before the legal date with enough wiggle room to bring the final spending figure down when lawmakers finally approve the amount to be distributed in state aid. Lawmakers have been at an impasse the last three months with the governor and Republicans seeking 1.25 percent in state aid while Democrats started at six percent and have lowered their request below four percent, the minimum school administrators in the state say is needed to adequate fund burgeoning costs and state mandates. Humboldt School Superintendent Greg Darling and district finance manager Annie Rathke, who presented the figures at the meeting, said the budget approved Monday is based on four percent in state aid. “This is based on four percent. We know it probably won’t be four percent. So when the final amount will be less, the tax rate will also be lower,” Rathke said. For more news on Humboldt County schools, read The Humboldt Independent every week. Subscribe by clicking on the link at the top of the page.