School levies explained
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The public hearing for the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 property tax levy for the Mount Ayr Community School district is scheduled Monday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m. in the board room. As published on page 8 in today’s Record-News, the legal notice for the proposed levy is broken down into six separate line items. Below is an explanation of those line items:
General Fund levy – Items covered by this levy include salaries and benefits for all school personnel, instructional supplies and equipment, utilities, transportation (parts and fuel), advertising and publishing, and any other expense not assigned by law to a different fund.
Instructional Support levy – This voter supported levy supplements the General Fund.
Management levy – Items paid for from this levy include costs of unemployment or early retirement benefits and costs of liability insurance and judgments or settlements relating to liability.
Physical Plant and Equipment levy (PPEL) – The district board of directors may set a regular PPEL at no more than 33 cents, and voters may approve an additional PPEL not to exceed $1.34.
These levies cover costs of specified major expenditures related to real property and equipment. These can include purchase, construction, and improvements to buildings and facilities; purchase of buses and other vehicles for transporting students, and demolition, clean up, and other costs related to a natural disaster.
Debt Service levy – This levy pays interest and principal on district-issued bonds or other general long-term indebtedness.
As stated on the public hearing notice, the district’s levy rate is decreasing from $11.45279 to $11.28665, a drop of 1.5 percent.
The total dollars of taxes being levied is increasing from $4,287,973 to $4,357,954, a rise of 1.6 percent. The district attributes the difference to an increased allocation to the management fund to cover insurance deductibles in case of another large claim.
A lower levy rate resulting in higher tax revenues is made possible by an estimated 10 percent increase in assessed property values within the district.
