D181 Board Not Hot on Fee Refunds

The idea to refund 2011-12 school fees paid by District 181 families with money from a larger-than-normal contingency fund is one that did not seem to have the support of a majority of school board members at Monday night's committee of the whole meeting at . 

Two weeks after board member Yvonne Mayer introduced the idea at the board’s Oct. 3 business meeting, assistant superintendant for business Dr. Troy Whalen presented the potential refund process, as well as two other options for utilizing the extra contingency cash—to backfill a non-maximum tax levy this December or an abatement of bond and interest debt following a maximum levy.

Currently the contingency fund contains approximately $1 million. Whalen said it typically contains $200,000 to $300,000, and that the ideal amount is $500,000.

In order for the $691,768 in textbook and technology fees paid this school year to be refunded, the district would have to cut 3,900 checks, Whalen said, which in postage and man-hours would cost $9,500. That cost could be cut to $7,800 if checks were distributed at school instead of mailed.

Board member Brendan Heneghan said the refund option would be “a logistical nightmare,” considering all the checks that would need to be sent.

“Probably half of them would make it home,” Heneghan said.

Mayer acknowledged the feasibility issues with refunds this year, but maintained that school fees going forward need to be reduced. She said that though the extra money is listed as a contingency, it represents a budget surplus.

“As a result of that surplus, we need to figure out whether it’s necessary for us to continue to charge the fees we have been charging parents to send kids to this district,” Mayer said. “And I don’t think it is.”

While board member Sarah Lewensohn said Mayer’s proposal was “premature” and the district needs to hold onto all the money it can right now, Glenn Yaeger expressed support for lowering the tax levy this December, another of the options presented by Whalen for the extra contingency money.

Yaeger said district expenditures have grown over the past seven years at too steep a rate and the only way to get costs under control is to lower the levy and be forced to adjust. 

“I think it’s important that we send the message to the community that we are going to start to hold the line on the growth of our expenses,” Yaeger said.

According to Whalen, the district is allowed by state statute to levy the same amount as the year prior plus the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or five percent, whichever is lower. By freezing the levy at the same amount it was in 2010 instead of raising it based on the CPI in 2011, Whalen said, a household living in a $1 million home would save $100 on its tax bill. 

If the district were to levy less than the maximum allowed, however, it would be leaving dollars on the table going forward, according to Whalen.

Yaeger said he understood that and cited a referendum for a tax increase as a back-up plan if it were determined the district did need more from taxpayers.

The third option for the extra contingency money presented by Whalen is a partial abatement of bond and interest payments for approved facilities projects after a max levy has been approved. Whalen said the abatement would save a household in a $1 million home $133, would be a one-time-only reduction, and would not impact the district's maximum allowed tax levy going forward.

"It would preserve the tax rate and the compounding effect is not lost," Whalen said.

The board is set to discuss the levy in November.