Red Wing School Board sets preliminary levy

Red Wing School Board voted 6-0 Monday to set a preliminary levy for 2013 to “maximum,” which is a stand-in for the amount the Minnesota Department of Education sets for the district’s maximum levy.

The district must certify a preliminary levy to the Goodhue County auditor by Oct. 1. But because the Department of Education can change the district’s levy up until that deadline, the board decided not to set a specific number.

As of Sept. 8, the Department of Education had given the district a preliminary maximum levy of about $8.36 million. That is about $1.4 million less than the actual 2012 levy.

Finance Director Brad Johnson said the drop is due to some of the district’s debt expiring after this year.

Once the levy is certified, the district cannot raise it, but can lower it. However, if locals vote to renew the expiring operating levy and the facilities bonds on the November ballot, the levy will be raised.

Johnson said Monday night that if the operating levy is renewed and the facilities bond passes, that would add about $1.61 million to the levy, bringing the total potential levy to about $9.52 million or about 2.5 percent less than the 2012 levy.

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