Gibbon Nation
Tuesday, September 17th, Gibbon Public Schools presented its budget at the Joint Public Hearing. The hearing is connected to the "Pink Cards" patrons received in the email and is a requirement outlined in statute.
Attached in this news story is the information presented at the Joint Public Hearing and includes;
1) The anticipated expenses the school district realizes each year. The largest percentage of the budget is associated with personnel and salaries.
2) The five-year trend for expenses in the general fund. These dollar amounts reflect expenses paid through the general fund, federal funds, and special education funds.
3) The five-year trends for property valuations. Between fiscal year 2023-24 and fiscal year 2024-25, property valuations increased by seven percent. The school district does not have any control over the increase or decrease in property valuations as valuations are determined by the county assessor. Property valuations do impact the revenue requested by the school district.
4) The five-year trends in the tax levy. Please take a look at the last three years. The General Fund Levy has decreased from $1.02 to .95 cents and the Total Levy has decreased from $1.1747 to $1.1366. This is reflected in the district's commitment to being a good steward of the taxpayer's dollar while meeting the increased costs of running a school district.
5) The five-year trends in state aid or monies provided by the state of Nebraska. Between fiscal year 2023 -24 and 2024-25, the amount of state aid decreased from $1.317, 748 to $910,844. Less resources provided by the state of Nebraska places an additional burden on the local taxpayer.
6) The Gibbon Public Schools Board of Education did approve a tax resolution during the September Regular Board Meeting. The funding formula that applies to every public school is defined through state statute. Under the funding formula, each school district has a three percent "Base Growth Rate" and that three percent defines their "Property Tax Request Authority." This means each district is limited to growing their budgets by three percent and defines the school district's ability to request revenue from the local taxpayers. Under the funding formula, the amount of revenue Gibbon Public Schools has the authority to request is $7,474,168. Please notice the district did not request that amount and will seek to request $7,108,733. That total amount of dollars that will be requested by the district is $366,435 less than what was projected through the funding formula.
The funding formula also provides for the ability to seek additional dollars. This is called the "Additional Base Growth Percentage" and that percentage rests at 6%. The school district could seek additional tax dollars if there is a forecasted need to do so. For Gibbon Public Schools, this 6% additional growth percentage increases the property tax request authority to $7,997,055.
Here is where the tax resolution comes into play. The tax resolution protects the district's ability to access those additional dollars. However, the district did not seek to request the additional dollars when developing the 2024-25 budget but did approve the resolution to protect the future interests of the district.
We hope this is information you found useful. Please contact the district office at 308-468-6555 to learn more about the district's efforts to develop a fiscally responsible budget.