SPRING VALLEY — Spring Valley District Administrator John Groh was positive about the district’s financial position for the coming years during the July 16 annual meeting and 2025-26 budget presentation. While the mill rate is expected to increase for the coming year due to a referendum passing, Groh shared some changes at the state level that may decrease the local tax burden eventually.

Currently, Spring Valley’s mill rate for 2025-26 is projected at 8.59, with the school levy projected to increase from $3.8 million to $4.44 million. That mill rate is up from the previous few years, but down from that of the early 2020s. The district mill rate was 9.77 in 2018-19, 9.22 in 2019-20, 10.47 in 2020-21, 9.14 in 2021-22, 8.92 in 2022-23, 6.94 in 2023-24 and 7.35 in 2024-25.

“The mill rate is going to be going up. The main reason is there’s a referendum that passed,” Groh said. “It’s still relatively in line with where things have been.”

Groh mentioned the presented numbers are built on a best guess, as two of the most important factors, enrollment and property value evaluations, are not finalized.

“Without those two pieces, you’re making your best guess. Even after those things are determined, you don’t know exactly until October when the school board sets the levy,” Groh said.

While it is not certain, Groh expects the numbers to look a little better for the taxpayers when it is finalized.

“The assumption built in is there’s zero property value increase, and that’s really rare,” Groh said. “These numbers will probably get rosier. They are built in pretty conservatively.”

A special education funding change could play a role in decreasing the levy in years to come. After years of complaints from districts about the special education cost reimbursement sitting at 30%, an increase was approved.

“The State Legislature and governor just set a new budget. They’re going to go from 30% up to 42% next year,” Groh said. “That’s a big deal for us.”

Spring Valley’s special education budget is around $1.1 million, so the increase will have a sizable impact.

The formula for the school’s state funding is also expected to change, increasing per pupil aid from $11,325 to $11,650. This does not increase the amount of revenue brought in by the school, but it does decrease the burden on local taxpayers as a higher percentage of funding is coming from the state.

“I don’t know where that mill rate’s going to fall at the end of the day, but it was really good news,” Groh said of a 7.51% aid increase. “Last year, I think it was like a 0.1% increase. Maybe it was a decrease.”

Projected general fund revenues are expected to outpace expenditures in 2025-26 $10,731,145 to $10,519,541. In 2024-25 revenues were at $10,644,594 with expenditures at $10,846,354.

“We are planning on taking in more money than we are going to spend,” Groh said. “That’s a good feeling for a district to obviously have a little bit more money than we’re planning on spending.

The total expenditures from all funds under the budget would see a slight increase from $14,933,130 to $14,955,397.