Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
On Monday, Sept. 11, members of the New Rockford-Sheyenne School Board discussed levies, money and budgets.
Their evening began with a public levy meeting which was open to the public but not attended by any taxpayers.
Nonetheless, NR-S Business Manager Dave Skogen shared with the board a presentation detailing the school district’s taxable valuation for 2023-24 and the number of mills they expect to levy.
Skogen began by showing board members how much the district’s taxable valuation by county has increased, going from $16,861,717 to $17,759,569 – an increase of $897,852 (5.32 percent). That increase is significantly greater than years prior.
A year ago their taxable valuation increased only $449,176, and the year before that it increased only $383,752.
As a result, the number of mills the school district expects to levy is due to decrease by a fraction, from 99.75 to 99.54 – a difference of 0.21.
Skogen also shared how the mills levied by New Rockford-Sheyenne in 2022-23 stacked up against other school districts.
Carrington, Rugby and Maddock were all significantly higher, at 131.07, 111.32 and 102.75, respectively. Midkota was almost the same at 98.53, while Fessenden-Bowdon and Harvey were significantly lower at 79.22 and 71.50, respectively.
Following the public levy meeting, board members began their official school board meeting with the pledge of allegiance, and eventually discussed the district’s official financial report for the 2022-23 school year.
The report, which was approved by the board and will be published in a future edition of the Transcript, shows the district’s expenses last year exceeded their revenue by $162,111.58.
The deficit has brought the district's general fund balance from $899,925.16 – where it was on July 1, 2022 – to $737,813.58.
Skogen said this is the third year in a row where the expenditures have been higher than the revenues.
“Thankfully we’re in a financial position right now to work through some of these growing pains to an extent, some of these staff changes, that we can swallow a little bit of this,” said Skogen.
“Not a great situation, but it’s not the end of the world and it’s not as bad as these numbers against each other look,” he concluded.
Next on the agenda was the district’s final 2023-24 budget.
The budget presented on Monday was the same as the preliminary budget presented at their regular meeting in August, which shows projected revenue at $5,012,595.23, and projected expenditures at $5,059,039.54.
Skogen noted that there’s still some uncertainty regarding the bottom line – particularly with the sudden departure of a science teacher – but board members unanimously voted to approve the budget regardless, noting they can always make amendments before the Oct. 10 deadline if necessary.
The final 2023-24 budget can be viewed on the school district’s website by going to the menu, clicking on “school board” and selecting the Sept. 11, 2023 meeting agenda, which has a link to the final budget.
The next school board meeting is scheduled for Monday Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.
