Ste. Genevieve R-II releases board briefs from Aug. 29, 2022 Tax Rate Hearing and Regular Meeting

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STE. GENEVIEVE – The Ste. Genevieve School District R-II has released the board briefs from the August 29 Tax Rate Hearing and Regular Meeting.

“This information includes highlights from the Ste. Genevieve R-II Board of Education’s Aug. 29, 2022, Tax Rate Hearing and Regular Meeting. This is an unofficial record. The official Board Minutes are posted on the district website and are located on BoardDocs, linked here. The video of the meeting can be found on the district’s You Tube Channel, SG DragonTV” a school official stated.

 

TAX RATE HEARING

 

The Board of Education held its annual tax rate hearing. Superintendent Dr. Julie Flieg presented the tax rate information to the Board members and patrons present for the meeting. After the presentation, board members and patrons were given the opportunity to participate in a question and answer session to seek clarification and additional information on the tax rate.

 

Dr. Flieg’s presentation included an overview of the district’s planning and projections for the 2022-2023 year, including contingency planning for uncertain tax revenue and possible legal expenditures.

 

Tax Rate Recommendations

  • Flieg presented the district’s recommendation to set the operating levy at $2.9617 and the debt service level at $0.4400 for a total levy of $3.4017 for the 2022-23 school year.
  • The maximum calculated rate the district could have set the debt service rate is 0.4567 cents; Dr. Flieg recommended a voluntary rollback to keep the debt service rate at 0.4400 cents.

 

            Understanding the Tax Rate

  • Public school districts have four funds, as required by state statute:
  1. Incidental (General): for all resources except those in another fund
  2. Teacher (Special): for all teachers’ salaries and benefits and also tuition payments to other districts
  3. Debt Service: for long-term debt payments
  4. Capital Projects: facility acquisition, construction, lease, purchase, principal and interest payments, etc.
  • When the district sets its tax rate, there are two different rates that need to be determined:
    1. Debt Service Levy (Fund 3): SG R-II is not raising the debt service levy for the 2022-23 school year. The debt service levy was 0.4400 cents last year, and, as the district promised, it will remain at 0.4400 cents for the upcoming 2022-23 school year. As promised, the debt service levy is not going to increase with the passage of Prop SG.
    2. Operating Levy (Funds 1, 2, and 4): This portion of the tax rate will be adjusted from $2.9571 in 2021-22 to $2.9617 in 2022-23. This is a difference of 0.0046 cents, which equates to less than half a penny, for the 2022-23 tax rate. This adjustment comes directly from the state auditor’s calculations, which generates the tax rate. The calculation uses data from the prior year tax rate, prior year assessed valuation, prior year revenue from state assessed property, the current year assessed valuation, and the projected revenue from state assessed property funds. The state assessed property amount was slightly less in 2021-22 than expected, which is part of the reason why there is a slight increase in the Operating Levy. In addition, the county’s assessed valuation grew by $31 million since the last year, which includes about $8 million in new construction, which accounts for a portion of this increase in the Operating Levy, as well.
  • Flieg shared the following comparison sheets for tax projections. These do not take into account any other taxing entities’ tax increases, nor do they account for any improvements made to homes: Commercia (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHSK864D6BD4/$file/Commercial%20-%202022%20Tax%20Rate%20Estimates.pdf)l, Residential (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHSK844D69FF/$file/Residential%20-%202022%20Tax%20Rate%20Estimates.pdf), and Agricultural (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHSK884D6D31/$file/Agricultural%20-%202022%20Tax%20Rate%20Estimates.pdf)
  • Out of 21 local districts, the district ranks the second-lowest in total tax rate for the 2021-2022 school year. (We are unable to create a comparison for the 2022-23 school year because the deadline in some counties for their tax rates to be set is October 1.)
  • As a reminder, for the 2021-22 school year, the total tax rate was reduced by approximately six cents.

 

Uncertain Tax Revenue:

  • LafargeHolcim filed a protest with the local Board of Equalization regarding the value of some of its properties and subsequent taxation for the 2021-2022 year. The Board of Equalization upheld the assessor office values, and LafargeHolcim protested and appealed the valuation to the Missouri Tax Commission. At this time, the expected date for this hearing would be May 2023. If the Missouri Tax Commission were to uphold the assessor office values, the next level of appeal would be the court system. This process could take several years. During this time, the tax revenue that would be paid to the taxing entities is being held in escrow until the protest is resolved. The district’s portion of this tax revenue was approximately $8.4 million for the 2021-2022 school year, and it is expected to be approximately $8.6 million for the 2022-23 school year. In addition, Mississippi Lime Company has filed a similar protest regarding the value of some of its property for the 2022-2023 school year. The district’s portion of this tax revenue is expected to be approximately $700,000 and will also be held in escrow until the protest is resolved.
  • The district took the uncertainty of this situation into consideration when creating budget projections for the 2022-2023 school year.
  • Also, the district receives approximately 75% of local taxes. If the appeal makes its way through the court system, the legal fees for the district could be in the $2.0 to 4.5 million range.
  • Flieg has shared that the Board and administration are committed to rolling back the tax rate once the uncertainty of the tax revenue is settled.

 

2022-2023 Tax Revenue Projections:

  • Utilizing the recommended tax rate of $3.4017, the projected tax revenues (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHSK8A4D6E95/$file/2022%20Tax%20Rate%20Est%20Comparison.pdf) for the district would only be about $130,178 in additional funds in comparison to last year. This projection takes into account the following:
    • For the 2022-2023 year, the district would receive approximately $28.3 million with a 100% collection rate for taxes. The district received approximately a 66% collection rate last year (due in most part to LafargeHolcim’s 2021-2022 taxes being held in escrow).
    • LafargeHolcim and Mississippi Lime’s 2022-2023 taxes will be held in escrow, a total of approximately $9.3 million. Due to this, the district is assuming a lower collection rate of 64%.
    • Tax collection fees are typically about 3%.
  • Flieg shared some areas where the district would utilize the new funds:
    • We have hired a new kindergarten teacher at Bloomsdale Elementary to reduce class sizes.
    • We have removed the new door lock system from the Prop SG funds and installed them for this school year due to the inability to obtain parts to fix the old system.
    • We have also replaced some windows at Ste. Genevieve Elementary that were deteriorating.
    • The district would like to hire an additional School Resource Officer to teach DARE to all fifth grade students, to provide additional assistance to our SRO Christy Clark and Social Worker Stephanie Gegg, as well as spend some time at Bloomsdale Elementary.

REGULAR MEETING

MSBA MONTHLY REPORT

The MSBA August Board Report (https://www.mosba.org/board-report/) features a look at the new school year in Missouri and a preview of the 2022 MSBA Annual Conference in Kansas City. The MSBA Board Report is a monthly five to seven-minute video program featuring the latest news from MSBA about public education in Missouri. The program is designed to be shown during local school board meetings.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

 

Board members and administrators listen to concerns and respond when appropriate by mail or telephone at a later date. The Board does not respond within the meeting to those who come to offer public comment. In order to speak during public participation, a Public Comment Form must be filled out and submitted to the Board President prior to the beginning of the meeting. See Policy BDDH-1: Public Participation at Board Meetings for guidelines and procedures. 

 

  • Community member Mickey Flieg participated in the Public Comment, and spoke on the topic of the COVID-19 information and immunization information in the August edition of the Dragons Digest.
  • Community member Melinda Fisher participated in the Public Comment and invited the Board of Education and district administration to an event.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT

 

Back to School Professional Development Days. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lance McClard reviewed the professional development events for all employees that took place prior to the start of the school year.

 

This week launched with an inspiring presentation from keynote speaker William Martinez, a child of a deaf adult (CODA). He shared that his first language was American Sign Language, and spoke on the impact that any educator or district employee can have on a student’s life. He also provided a break-out session, ASL in the Classroom, where he taught educators how to communicate non-verbally with students. Studies have shown that teachers who utilize ASL can communicate non-verbally to their students keeping the flow and attention of the class intact. It also allows for shyer students to feel that they can communicate to their teacher without drawing unwanted attention, and makes the relationship between the teacher and the students unique by learning a new language together. During the first week of school, Dr. Taylor visited the Bloomsdale Elementary library, where Library Aide Sarah Carlson was giving instruction to fifth grade students using ASL. He shared that seeing an employee taking this communication method and integrating it into their classes was inspiring.

 

The rest of the week included annual safety and security trainings, required videos, building level meetings, and collaboration with grade level and subject level teams. Dennis Lewis, EduSafe co founder and QuickAccess app author, also spoke to all employees on the research and protocols on school safety.

 

New Door Lock System Update. Dr. Flieg shared that the new door locks are all operating on the Ste. Genevieve campus, and that the door locks on the Bloomsdale Campus are on track to be completed by the end of the week.

 

Handbooks for the 2022-23 School Year. Dr. Flieg shared the various student and parent handbooks for the 2022-23 school year:

  • Bloomsdale Elementary (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WVMdiDRKcIF2SnUn3w_XrGDm8yO3rVRcgT1pCg6xOyw/edit?usp=sharing)
  • Genevieve Elementary (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OyZB7ugQTDnOV4fs_YfbRi31wB0y_3OwkQFaoZH1K8M/edit?usp=sharing)
  • Genevieve Middle School (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QswLIuhCVNqP5-onnCXxS6h6jPACXII3rvQIJLUlb44/edit?usp=sharing)
  • Genevieve High School (https://sites.google.com/sgdragons.org/sghsstudent-parentguide/course-directory)
  • SGMS Athletic Handbook (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHBSQH735E60/$file/MS%20Athletic%20Handbook%20with%20Acknowledgments.pdf)
  • SGHS Athletic Handbook (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHBSQK735E6A/$file/SGHS%20Athletic%20Handbook.pdf)
  • SGHS Athletic Form Acknowledgment (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHBSQM736170/$file/SGHS%20Athletic%20Form%20Acknowledgements.pdf)

 

Prop SG Update. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Paul Taylor presented an update on Prop SG. District administration recently met KRJ Architects and Brockmiller Construction, Inc. to review current plans and progress. The district administration provided suggestions for updated drawings at that time, and has met with building administration, as well as Dr. Nix and coaches to attain their input before the next meeting with the architects and the CMAR. Dr. Taylor shared that he anticipates a contract with Brockmiller by the end of the week.

 

Safety Reports. There were no safety reports to review during this meeting.

 

 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

 

Resolution Authorizing Issuance & Sale of $10,000,000 Series 2022 General Obligation Bonds. The Board approved the resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of $10,000,000 Series 2022 General Obligation Bonds with L.J. Hart & Company. This is the first installment of the $20,000,000 approved at the April 5, 2022, election by about 71% of the voters. These bonds were approved for the purpose of addressing facility needs encompassed by Prop SG (https://www.sgdragons.org/page/propsg). Vice President Courtney Wegman, Senior Analyst Erin McManus, and Chairman and CEO Larry Hart of L.J. Hart & Company presented the resolution and provided a detailed explanation to the Board.

 

The Board of Education approved the negotiated sale of the bonds in order to capture current market conditions, to be certain that local banks received an opportunity to purchase the bonds, and because the proposed interest rates were fair based upon current conditions in the municipal bond market. The Board and district administration were excited to learn that local financial institutions took advantage of the opportunity to invest. MRV Bank purchased $1,050,000, the First State Community Bank acquired $500,000, and the Bank of Bloomsdale committed to $1,500,000 of the bonds.

 

The bonds are scheduled to mature on March 1, 2035 through March 1, 2042, with reoffered yields ranging from 3.00% to 3.20%. The district is also selling the bonds at a premium by utilizing a 5.00% interest rate with the investors receiving the reoffered yields to the March 1, 2027 call date. This structure produces additional funds for the projects with the reoffering premium in the amount of $770,046. The interest income from the bonds is exempt from federal and state of Missouri income taxes.

 

After all related fees and expenses (totalling approximately $130,000) have been subtracted from the premium, approximately $10,639,846 is expected to be available to the district by Sept. 13, 2022.

 

These bonds carry a “AA+” rating from S&P Global due to the district’s participation in the State of Missouri Direct Deposit Program.

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Setting the Tax Rate. The Board of Education approved setting the operating levy at $2.9617 and the debt service levy at $0.4400 for a total levy of $3.4017 for the 2022-23 school year.

 

Adult Food Prices. The Board approved the adult food prices (https://go.boarddocs.com/mo/stegen/Board.nsf/files/CHERW86FA4FC/$file/LUNCH%20PRICES%202022-23%20W-Adult%20Prices.pdf) for the 2022-2023 school year. The district pays for employees’ meals as part of their benefits package.

 

Evaluation Report for Coaches. The Board approved an updated evaluation tool for coaches. Athletic Director Dr. Jeff Nix explained the need for a revamped evaluation system for coaches, as the former process was outdated. The new process is done via an app, and it provides coaches with instant feedback, as well as tracks evaluations in order to be used as a summative evaluation at the end of a season.

 

Summer of 2023 MSHSAA Dead Period for Activities. The Board of Education approved the MSHSAA Dead Period of Activities for the Summer 2023 to be held July 29 through Aug. 6, 2023. This date range meets the MSHSAA requirements to start on a Saturday and run for nine consecutive days.

 

UPCOMING MEETINGS

 

The next Board of Education meeting will be a Regular Session Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m.