Aitkin voters being asked to OK school levy

Aitkin School District residents will head to the polls Nov. 3 to vote whether to renew the district's existing 6-cents per pupil operating levy referendum.

If it is approved, the operating levy will be in effect for the next 10 years, continuing to provide about $110,000 a year to the district's $12 million annual budget for operating expenses. The previous operating levy had been in place since 1999.

Aitkin Superintendent Bernie Novak said taxpayers will notice a decrease in their school taxes - about 10 percent - even if the referendum passes because the district's debt service payment on its building bonds will expire next year, reducing the school levy by $217,000 annually.

If the levy does not pass, the district will need to make $110,000 in budget reductions, Novak said.

Novak said the school board did discuss increasing its operating levy from 6 cents per pupil but decided instead to stick with the district's existing levy amount.

"We decided with the economy the way it is and we're holding our own at this point, we didn't think it was prudent to go out and ask our community for more money," Novak explained. "We just want to maintain our current revenue and not to put any more stress on the community."

Business manager Tiffany Gustin said the additional 6 cents per pupil levy allows the district to access additional equity revenue through its levy using the state funding formula to generate the $110,000 a year - or about $81 per student.

The operating levy only affects homesteaded and commercial properties, not seasonal cabins, in the Aitkin School District. Gustin said a homeowner with a $100,000 property pays about $12 a year - $1 per month - for the 6-cent per pupil operating levy.

Polls will be open from 1-8 p.m. Nov. 3 at Aitkin High School, Palisade School and Glen-Kimberly Town Hall.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.