Proposed tax levy and school budget
Property owners in the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows School District will see a slight increase if the Board of Education approves the proposed fiscal year 2020-21 budget. The proposed levy rate will be $13.25 per thousand of valuation for the former Clarion-Goldfield district area and $12.70 for the former Dows school district. This is an increase from last year’s rate of $12.69 and $12.14 respectively. Superintendent Dr. Bob Olson explained that a couple of factors led to the increase, including enrollment going up by 31 students and a higher special education deficit.
The proposed budget reflects $19,231,980 in expenditures, transfers out, and other uses for the next fiscal year. Dr. Olson emphasizes that this number doesn’t necessary represent what the district will spend, but rather what it has the authority to spend if necessary. He predicts the actual spending will be under that $19 million mark.
A full budget summary can be seen in the March 26 edition of the Monitor. The public budget hear is planned for April 13 at 5 pm.
Board votes to keep paying hourly staff
An emergency C-G-D Board of Education meeting was held soon after the school shutdown was announced two weeks ago. During the meeting, the board unanimously voted to approve regular payment of hourly employees’ wages during the school shut down based on their contract hours and the district calendar.
Dr. Olson said this was a good decision for the district to make. “We value our employees. We truly have a family culture.” Olson added, “Those folks have bills to pay too. And we don’t want to lose good employees.”
The superintendent also informed the board about the free grab-and-go lunch program that the district is now offering. See last week’s Monitor or the CGD website for more information on that.
