By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien School Board approved the 2021-22 budget and tax levy on Oct. 28. The board approved a levy of $16.3 million, down 8.09 percent from last year. That translates to a mill rate of $763 per $100,000 of property value.
The tax levy is lower than what was preliminarily approved at the annual meeting last spring. The levy at that meeting was set at $17.7 million with a projected mill rate of $880 per $100,000. The decrease was attributed to higher than expected equalized property values, more state aid then was expected and some savings the district realized.
Business Administrator Anthony Klein said the district saved $130,000 by reducing the number of bus routes from 20 to 17, saved another $263,000 in health care costs and the district has about 40 staff members who opted out of the district-provided health care plan. Klein said the tax levy is the lowest it has been since 2018-19 and the mill rate is the lowest in has been since 2008-09.
Klein said the budget included contributing $100,000 toward a capital improvements fund instead of the $58,500 it was scheduled to contribute. The fund saves money toward maintenance costs for athletic facilities like the new artificial soccer/football field that will need to be replaced every 10 years or so. This is the second year in a row the budget has included $100,000 instead of the $58,500. The budget also includes a two percent raise for staff.
The budget saw a decrease in revenue, Klein explained, but also a decrease in expenses leading to a balanced budget.
He said the energy efficiency projects the district invested in several years ago continue to save the district and taxpayers money. He said the district saw a direct energy savings of $168,750 and the upgrades that were made meant the district did not have to spend a projected $426,402 in facility maintenance costs.
Klein did say the district still only receives $9,977.41 per student in state aid, just below the $10,000 level the state has determined to be the minimum districts should receive. He said that lower amount is due to some money being sent to Lakeland School for district students that attend school there.
Some discussion was had about levying more money that could have been used to pay down more district debt, but Klein said he did not include that in the budget because the extra money the state gave to school districts was meant to provide property tax relief to taxpayers. The board could have decided to levy more but chose not to.
The school board also discussed allocating more money in the budget toward funding athletics, but no changes were made at this meeting.
Klein suggested asking Athletic Director Guy Otte for more information about what additional funding athletics could use and then making a budget amendment in the future if so desired.
