The District 200 Board of Education approved its preliminary levy on Nov. 10, in the amount of roughly $65 million, opting not to go with a lower amount but leaving that possibility open in the final levy next month.
The option to freeze this year’s final levy at the 2013 amount — roughly $55 million — remains a strong possibility. Board members Jeff Weissglass, Tom Cofsky and Sharon Patchak-Layman said they each expect to support a lower levy amount next month.
The board took a similar route last year when they adopted a final levy lower than the preliminary amount. Last year’s final levy was a $10 million reduction from 2012. This year’s preliminary levy represents an 18 percent increase from ’13.
Tod Altenburg, D200’s chief financial officer, noted that the board is not bound to that increase when it sets the final levy on Dec. 18. Board members agreed on the preliminary figure even though some wanted to go with a lower amount.
Cofsky and Patchak-Layman wanted a levy freeze.
Cofsky sat on the district’s ad hoc Finance Advisory Committee last year and said a levy freeze this year aligns with their recommendation. Cofsky said he couldn’t support returning to the 2012 levy rate because that goes against another FAC recommendation for reducing the district’s massive fund balance, which is projected at $109 million in 2015.
The FAC called for a fund balance of less than 100 percent of annual district expenditures by 2018, with further reductions in reserves in the years after. The district estimates it will have 158 percent of expenditures, or about 19 months in reserves, by next June.
According to the district’s budget projections, a $65 million levy puts D200 on a path toward 102 percent of expenditures by 2018. For that reason, Cofsky said he couldn’t support that high a levy.
He sought the $55 million figure, but the amended motion ultimately failed, with only Cofsky and Patchak-Layman voting for it. The other board members insisted there was no need to approve a lower amount that evening when that option remains available next month.
Some members, like Jackie Moore and Jeff Weissglass, said they needed more time to study the $65 million levy option before deciding on any final amount. Â
Weissglass added that he was initially leaning toward supporting the lower preliminary levy but felt it wasn’t necessary to take such an action at that time. The board approved the $65 million levy 6-1, with Patchak-Layman voting no and Cofsky joining Moore, Weissglass, John Phelan, Ralph Lee and Steve Gevinson in voting yes.
Cofsky said he’ll vote for a lower levy on Dec. 18.
CONTACT: tdean@wjinc.com