On Monday night, the Crookston School District held its “Truth in Taxation” hearing inside the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room. The hearing was an opportunity for members of the public to raise concerns or ask questions about how the district’s 2022 tax levy will affect the taxpayers.
The board had three options to decide from for the 2022 levy.
- Option 1 – Maximum Levy
- Option 2 – Under levy -$50,000
- Option 3 – Under levy – $100,000
School Board Chair Frank Fee was absent from the meeting, so School Board Treasurer Tim Dufault filled in. After some discussion from the board, they voted to certify Option 3. The Under Levy $100,000 option will result in a 4.3% increased tax levy for 2022.
Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson explained why the school board chose the 4.3% increase. “What we’re hearing from taxpayers is that the evaluation of homes has gone up,” said Olson. “The board is trying to get the levy as low as we could by using district resources. Things are tough, and we certainly don’t want to contribute to that. We do want to provide an excellent education, so we have to have a tax levy, but we wanted to take a hard look at what we could do to reduce that levy down.”
Homeowners will see a slight increase in taxes based on the estimates at a 4.3% increase for the upcoming year, while some business owners may pay actual pay less. All estimates are based on properties that have not changed in value.
| Type of Property | Actual Taxes Payable in 2021 | Preliminary Estimate of Taxes Payable in 2022 | Estimated Change in Annual Taxes | Estimated % Change |
| $100,000 Homestead | $324 | $332 | $8 | 2.5% |
| $150,000 Homestead | $520 | $528 | $8 | 1.5% |
| $200,000 Homestead | $715 | $725 | $8 | 1.4% |
| $100,000 Commercial | $464 | $460 | -$4 | -0.9% |
| $250,000 Commercial | $1,249 | $1,233 | -$16 | -1.3% |
| $500,000 Commercial | $2,633 | $2,589 | -$44 | -1.7% |
Olson also explained where the extra $100,000 would come from to reduce the tax levy to 4.3% from the maximum 7.4% that was initially set. “We will take the money from our long-term maintenance facility fund,” said Olson. “It’s allocated dollars, and we try and use it wisely. Our facilities are in pretty good shape, so we feel this was a good time to use some of that money to help out with the levy. We also feel the needs of the district moving forward will still be met.”
Olson said he is happy with a 4.3% increase and that the school board was mindful of how it will affect the taxpayers. “I think we are happy with this. The board did as much as they could,” said Olson. “To under levy beyond what we did would’ve been irresponsible. They did what they could to ease the burden on taxpayers. Taxpayers have been good to us, so we want to be good to taxpayers.”
The only other item on the agenda was Superintendent Jeremy Olson’s report. The report was brief and highlighted Ethan Boll and Libby Salentine for winning the CHS Excel Award. Olson also highlighted the Crookston Leo Club for winning the Award of Excellence for the 30th time in a row.
The next School Board meeting will take place on Monday, January 24.
