Lower levy, higher costs in GCSD’s 2022-23 budget

The Glenwood Community School District tax levy is going down for the 2022-2023 school year.

The district’s levy is shrinking from 16.09 to 16.04 per $1,000 of taxable property valuation. This cut comes as a result of the Mills County Assessor’s Office undertaking aggressive residential property valuation increases last year. That resulting increase in valuations means the school district’s taxes levied from property is actually up from $10.3 million in the current budget round to $10.7 million for 2022-2023.

This means more revenue for the district and a lower tax levy.

The school district’s budget, however, is up. About 3 percent in all.

Glenwood’s budget will be $34.8 million for 2022-2023, up from $33.8.

As is the case with every complex budget, and the delicate balancing act of state, local and federal pools of money, that increase isn’t attributable to a single line item or financial issue impacting the district.

But Tim Reinert, the district’s director of finance, puts much of that $1 million expansion on wage and benefit increases and the inflationary cost of doing business.

“With the CPI (Consumer Price Index) at 8 percent, everything is costing more,” Reinert said.

Education isn’t getting cheaper and Glenwood, like many districts, face the same challenges of stretching its revenues to match its expenses.

In February, the Iowa Legislature set the state aid allowable growth at 2.5 percent – most, districts, including Glenwood, had requested 4 percent – in its $3.4 billion education budget.

“We’re grateful to get 2.5 and it’s not enough,” Embray said. “At a minimum, we needed 4 (percent) if not more if you look at CPI and when you look at everything involved (in education) and what’s going on and the amount of dollars the state has. 2015 was the last time we got 4 percent. Prior to that, we were in the 1s and 2s.”

The state allowable growth was capped at 2.4 percent in the current budget.

According to a study conducted by nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency, in the more than three decades under Iowa’s current education funding formula, state funding to K-12 public schools increased by an annual average of 5 percent. But since 2011 that funding figure has dropped to 1.9 percent.

That’s a making the current public education model and what goes into it, increasingly hard to sustain.

“Everything has gone up in price,” Embray said. “Food costs, maintenance, technology-wise, we’re not even talking salaries, we’re talking infrastructure to replace things, has gone up a 1,000 percent in cost. The projects that we used to do district-wide, we’re not having to split apart and do one building at a time. It’s crazy times.”

Glenwood will have some new money in its upcoming budget.

Along with that 2.5 percent state aid increase the district was up a total of five students in the Fall, meaning more than $397,000 in new money for the district’s coffers.

The budget includes wage and benefit increases for the district’s more than 350 employees.

The district just recently completed contract negotiations with its 153 teachers and agreed to a 3.5 salary increase and a 1.2 percent insurance increase.  The 4.7 total package bump represents a total fiscal increase of $460,000.

The district’s classified staff (non-teachers) will also see raises.

Embray admits filling the district’s classified staff positions has been an on-going problem. Shortages in multiple departments from kitchen staff to custodians and bus drivers has plagued the district the last two years. Embray called salary increases in those positions a “conscious overspend” to attract more staff and narrow the pay gap.

“We know and understand that is probably due to the salaries on the classified side are not competitive,” he said. “We want to try and get back in the game competitively for staff. It might take two years to make that happen so we’re increasing starting wages in all categories more competitive.”

Embray said the district doesn’t have the financial means for a blanket wage increase across every classified position, so a weighted scale has been implemented he hopes addresses the disparities. Classified staff personnel are employees who are not administrators or employees in positions which require an Iowa Department of Education teaching license. They include paraprofessionals, office or clerical staff, custodians, bus drivers, and nutritional, grounds and maintenance staff.

“We’ve come up with a starting wage. Anyone that is below that starting wage will be brought to it,” he said.

Any classified staff above that starting wage will not see an increase but the district will be using a “longevity” and “evidentiary” scales to measure salary increases. The longevity scale will reward employees with 10-plus years of service. The hourly rate will then go up every five years

“Regardless of what happens with wages during that time, they will get that longevity salary bump in addition,” Embray said.

Evidentiary salary increases will be granted to staff with education degrees and certifications.

For those classified staff that fall in the gap of not seeing an increase from either the longevity or evidentiary scale, Embray has recommended a 3.5 percent increase in salary rates beginning July 1.

“Everyone will at least see a 3.5 percent increase,” Embray said.

Embray went on to say the district has not yet finalized wage increases for district administrators and directors nor its shrinking bus driver staff. He hopes to have those finalized by late spring.

Embray estimates the increase in salary costs alone heading into next year will exceed $800,000. The resulting impact on the district’s unspent balance will see a net decrease of $650,000 going into next year.

“This is a purposeful overspend,” he said. “Our tax asking is actually going down. Our tax rate will go down. So that’s a good thing. We have a healthy unspent balance, and we know we have to make these adjustments on the classified (staff) side due to the lack of people. We need to be more competitive and hopefully, over the next two years, with retirements and bringing in younger staff, we might be able to balance out. If we don’t then we’re probably going to have to invoke some budget cuts.”

Since 2008, Embray said, Glenwood has not had to make any large budget cuts. And in six of those years, the districts had “negative enrollments,” in that they lost students.

“We’ve been able to maintain our programming and our unspent balance has been healthy enough that we’re able to do this competitive lift to get more people into our system,” he said. “But we also know that’s short-lived. We know we can be purposeful for this year and next year however going into that third year if we haven’t leveled out with expenses and revenues, we’re going to probably have to be a budget reduction mode.”

The Opinion-Tribune

116 S Walnut St Glenwood, IA 51534-1665
P.O. Box 377, Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-527-3191
Phone: 712-623-2566
Fax: 712-527-3193

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