The Carroll Community School District (CCSD) is in a solid financial position as officials begin preparing for the 2024 budget year. According to Superintendent Dr. Casey Berlau, districts typically use a combination of several datasets to determine fiscal health, such as enrollment trends, solvency ratios, authorized budget usage, and more. Certified enrollment for 2022 is down slightly from the previous year, but trends have held around 1,700 K-12 students since 2011. Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio
The total school property tax rate for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 is $9.48541 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, which is approximately 44 cents below the district’s average rate of $9.9232 since 2011. Berlau says the district’s combined tax rate is well below other similarly sized schools in Iowa.
For FY23, CCSD ranked in the lowest 20 tax rates in the state out of the 328 public school districts. The Ar-We-Va Community School District also made that list. Another indicator school officials use is their solvency ratio, which measures the school’s ability to meet its financial obligations. Carroll’s FY22 ratio was 31.7 percent. Director of Business Affairs Nicole McCarville says this is a good spot for the district.
These figures were presented to the school board during the December work session on Monday night to prepare board members as they head into budget season. FY24 budgets must be prepared, approved, and submitted to the Iowa Department of Management by March 31, 2023.