GREAT FALLS — Monday night, a school board meeting. On the agenda, the latest solution to the Great Falls Public Schools budget shortfall conundrum. The district anticipating a $2.5 million dollar deficit heading into their fiscal year, which begins July 1st. The board has two primary options. Run a levy election, securing funds from taxpayers, or deferring on alternate funding.
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Prior to the March 24 meeting, the district’s budget committee recommending the board to forgo passing a levy onto the public. If passed, a levy election would be scheduled to be held on May 6th, 2025. Monday night, an amendment to that motion.
“We are recommending not to run a mill levy election in conjunction with the May 6th trustee election that we're going to have,” says School Board Budget Committee member, Bill Bronson.
The amended motion passed unanimously. This isn’t to say the district won’t still turn to a levy to balance their budget. Under state law, the board has until August 1st to decide a levy amount on the ballot. However, the board has alternate pools of funding and feels confident in the direction of the Montana Legislature, which could provide more funding under the passing of new bills.
“We’re reasonably optimistic that the legislature, is going to follow through with, the STARS act with more funding for teachers, and the inflationary adjustments, property tax reforms that will hopefully reduce some of the burden on our average taxpayer,” adds Bronson.
The board say these along with reserves, and some remaining covid-relief funds will balance the budget under the tutelage of Business Manager, Brian Patrick. By leaving the option to run a levy open until August 1st, the board provide themselves with a contingency plan in case funding goes sideways in the legislature.
“We certainly want to have the option that if we really think that we see a need for a levy, that we will be able to do it sometime later on this calendar year,” says School Board Budget Committee member, Mark Finnicum.
There was some pushback from a concerned resident who wished to not see programs cut as a result of no levy. An action board members acknowledged and appreciated. It’s board member Bronson’s belief that the state of Montana should pick up more of the burden from it’s taxpayers, especially in a time of unrest in the markets and at the federal level.
“And to go to the voters, you know, even to ask for a small property tax increase with that is really asking a lot of people right now. I would rather wait and see how much uncertainty can we eliminate, how much more support can we get from the state?,” he says.
With major financial advancements in education on the cusp in the legislature, a levy election would seem unlikely.
“Right now, our district is in a good financial position, primarily because of the financial prowess that we've had going on over many years,” says Finnicum.
The school board will continue to monitor events at the Capitol closely and reassess their situation in the coming months.
