The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education Wednesday evening approved an Early Retirement request from full time TAG Coordinator K-12, Middle School STEM teacher and 8th grade volleyball coach, Joann Sandage. Superintendent Mike Amstein said that brings the number of Early Retirement applications to the predetermined level of 10 employees. The Board had set the deadline for the incentive as Feb. 1st, but they agreed to accept Sandages’ application because of what Amstein said were “Extenuating circumstances.”

The Board also discussed the possibility of bringing an Income Surtax for the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL or “Peppel”) back to the voters sometime this year.
Last September, voters rejected a public measure to add an income tax surcharge component to the district’s physical plant and equipment levy. The result though, was tight: 452 No to 443 Yes votes, or 49.5 percent of voters approving of the measure.
Amstein said the Board needs to revisit the matter for several reasons.

He says as it stands right now, the only source of revenue for the PPEL is property taxes. An income surtax would give the Board the ability to have more flexibility with what it can do with the tax levy. Board Secretary/District Business Manager Mary Beth Fast said the maximum surtax the District could impose, if approved, is 10-percent. Even if the District requested a nine-percent surtax, that would generate $300,000 and make for 67-cents difference in property tax relief.

Board member Dr. Keith Swanson said the last Surtax asking was “Sold so poorly to the public,” he couldn’t believe it…meaning, it wasn’t explained well at all. Fast agreed, the voters need to understand the surtax would reduce the property tax asking. Fast and Amstein will look into when the surtax could come up again for a vote, and report back to the Board during the next, regular meeting.

Mike Amstein said that if the State Legislature fails to set Supplemental Aid (SSA) by the time the District’s Budget is prepared, such as was the case last year, the District has to base its budget on the “Worst case scenario,” or zero-percent aid. The percentage of State Aid will impact how much the tax levy (property tax rate), will be for patrons of the Atlantic School District.

He says at 0%, the levy rate is $15.71 per thousand dollars valuation. At 1%, that drops to $15.50. At 2% – the current rate – the levy becomes $15.29. At 3% it’s $15.08. And if the legislature should approve 4% State Supplemental Aid, the levy would drop to $14.87 per thousand dollars valuation. That span he says, “Has a huge impact on what the Board is able to do with the tax rate, the flexibility [they would have].”

Amstein said even after the district certifies its budget by April 15th, the tax rate can be lowered, if the percentage of State Aid increases, but they can’t raise the levy rate if the Aid falls below the current 2%. That’s why they assume, unless the Legislature decides before the end of March, that the amount of State Aid will be Zero-percent.