DL School Board approves preliminary 5% tax levy increase for 2024

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Detroit Lakes School District approved a preliminary 5.05% tax levy increase for 2024 during their meeting on Monday evening.

The levy will raise nearly $9.5 million in revenue for the school district, which is about $460,000 more than last year.

John Steffl, chair of the school board, said the primary reason for the increase was higher wages and rising inflationary costs for materials and services across the budget categories.

“A lot of it is wages and it’s just something we kinda had to do, there’s a need for it,” said Steffl. “So you just look at every department and we did make some cuts last spring with a few teachers, we brought a lot of them back, but with the economy the way it is and everything, we’re just trying to keep up with the expenses.”

He also praised the school district’s administrative staff and finance committee for the hard work they put in every year to prepare the budget. Adding, they can be working on three years of budgets at once during this time of year because they are making sure the current year stays on track, next year is fully funded and then they briefly look out two years into the future to have a ballpark idea of what they will need to highlight during next year’s budget discussions.

“Every year, year after year they do a great job,” he said. “It is a big job and it’s kind of a forecast, with the preliminary budget you are looking out there a ways, but they put a lot of time into it and I’m very proud of our staff. A person on the outside, until you get on the school board and get involved, you don’t realize what they do. We’re very proud to have them and they do a wonderful job.”

Briefly looking at 2025 school district revenues, the Detroit Lakes Public Schools is expected to lose more than $136,000 in state aid, which will have to be made up with future additional tax levy increases or budget cuts.

The preliminary levy is required by state statute to be passed by the end of September and cannot be increased over the preliminary amount, but it can be lowered by school board.

A public hearing for the final Detroit Lakes Public Schools tax levy is scheduled for Dec. 18 at 6 p.m.