Kalispell Schools move forward with $68.1M budget

Kalispell Public Schools will operate on a $68.1 million budget for the 2019-20 school year.

This amount encompasses budgeted funds in the elementary and high school districts and takes into consideration approximately $1.5 million in cuts.

The sources of revenue for budgeted funds are state funding and taxpayer money.

The elementary district will operate on budgeted funds totaling $33.88 million. This represents a 3.3%, or $1.08 million increase, compared to last year.

The high school district’s budgeted funds add up to just over $34.2 million. Compared to last year, this is a .07% decrease, or $23,376 less.

In addition to the budgeted funds, both districts have reserves. Reserves are set aside for the district to operate from July through November when the school district starts receiving tax payments. The elementary district reserves contain $3,067,369, and the high school district, $3,257,816.

The district reported that taxable values are up, which means the school district will operate on fewer mills, according to District Director of Business Services Gwyn Andersen. Essentially, this means the tax load will be shared across more taxpayers.

“We’ll still raise the same amount of money because our budget amount is set in law, pretty much through a formula and we can’t raise more than that because our taxable value is up, but you will be sharing that load with maybe more homeowners and business owners.” Andersen said.

“Even though Kalispell Public Schools’ mill levy is down, you may not see a lot of difference in your tax bill because there may be a change in the assessment,” she said.

There are a couple of things that drive taxable value up she said.

“One, is it was a reassessment year, so if you made any improvements to your home since the last time it was assessed, that would increase your value and consequently increase your taxable value, and also, new buildings would come online,” Andersen said.

Both districts also hold cash funds in addition to budgeted funds. Cash fund balances fluctuate. These funds cover food service, student activities (extracurriculars), traffic education and health insurance. An interlocal fund and building fund are also under cash funds.

The interlocal fund contains year-end money from the elementary and high school districts and may be expended on various projects with board approval. Trustees approved transferring $1.2 million in year-end money into the interlocal fund, leaving a balance of $3.8 million.

Trustees also approved earmarking some of the interlocal funds for future expenses such as such as turf and track replacement, in addition to curriculum and technology purchases. In previous years, the district has purchased land, curriculum, technology in addition to loaning money to the district’s self-funded health insurance plan with interlocal funds.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.