School district being conservative with mill levy override dollars

It’s about more than just the state shortfall

by Mark Reaman

Reinforcing budget decisions made early last summer, the Gunnison Watershed school district in December set the 2020 mill levy lower than in 2019, but to still bring in about $19 million for the local schools.

The district will also continue to collect $2.4 million through a mill levy override known as Fund 26, passed by voters in 2014. One primary reason for the override was to make up the difference in the so-called state “negative factor.” That is the deficiency in the amount of money expected from the state and what actually is distributed to the school district. In 2014 that gap was $1.9 million. This year it will be $1.3 million.

“Overall, the override was not strictly tied to the negative factor,” said district superintendent Leslie Nichols. “It was also to reinstate programs that had been cut and continue to provide services for successful public education in the Gunnison Valley. We understand that in 2020 there is a significant reduction to $1.3 million in the negative factor but the Fund 26 committee looks at district needs and makes recommendations for the big picture.”

She explained that increased operating costs for programs such as the Summer Experience came into play as did the original intent to put money in a reserve fund to eventually be able to pay for operations in the future with the same amount of money but taking into consideration inflation.

“The Fund 26 dollars that were approved by voters are not just tied to the state negative factor but also to a strong curriculum and strong infrastructure needs,” Nichols said. “The committee this year kept the override collection amount at $2.4 million because of program costs and potential future needs. We acknowledge the decrease in the negative factor but things like the Summer Experience have grown and we want to maintain the level the community expects.

“So the Fund 26 committee recommended to the school board that it maintain the $2.4 million level one more year,” Nichols continued, “to see what things in terms of funding hold from the state and see what the operating costs for the local programs are. We all want to provide some taxpayer relief if possible but we must be prudent.”

Nichols said the deficit in state funding over a long period of time had hurt the district, especially when it comes to teacher salaries. “A major impact of the $17 million in funds denied the district over the last decade by the negative factor has been in the district’s inability to continue to chip away at creating a salary schedule to recruit and retain teachers and to address the gap between our teacher salary schedule and our community’s ever-increasing cost of living. This district is the eleventh-most expensive district out of 178 in the state in which to live. By maintaining programs in Fund 26 with the current mill levy, we are able to apply the reduction in the negative factor to start to bring our salary schedule up to par.”

Nichols noted that while the $2.4 million collected has held steady, the actual mill levy has decreased. That is based on an increase in value of local properties.