District decreases property tax levy for coming year

On December 13, the BHM School Board approved the tax levy for 2021 payable 2022. The approved tax levy represents a 2.21% decrease from the previous year. This means that assuming no change in property value, the average residential homeowner in BHM will see a reduction in the school portion of their property taxes of $63 for the 2022 tax year.

"Our decrease this year is largely due to lower enrollment-based revenue, changes in aid, and increases in debt service,” said Ryan Tangen, director of finance and operations. “As a result, most individual taxpayers will see some form of decrease in the school portion of their property taxes unless their property value increased more than the average property value increase within the district."

As Tangen said, the decreased levy is primarily the result of increases in local property values — as assessed by Hennepin and Wright counties — and fewer students enrolled in the district. With regard to the former, residential property values increased with the district last year. As for enrollment, BHM, like most Minnesota school districts, saw declining enrollment in 2020-2021 due to COVID-19 and related factors.

The district’s total levy of $19.7 million is assigned in different amounts to three funds: general fund, community education and debt services. Local property taxes contribute approximately 17% of BHM’s revenue annually. About 77% of annual funding comes from state sources, with three percent each coming from Federal and other sources. School districts are required to set their annual tax levies in December. However, unlike cities and counties, school district budgets operate from July 1 to June 30, and therefore the district’s annual budget for 2022-2023 will not be approved until June.