MARSHALL — Marshall Public Schools is looking at a total levy increase of over 5% in 2021, district staff said Monday night.

But at the same time, there are a lot of factors that can affect individual property owner’s taxes, said MPS Director of Business services Dion Caron.

Monday’s school board meeting doubled as the district’s annual “Truth In Taxation” meeting. Caron and other district staff went over the proposed levy and budget for the next year.

The Marshall School Board will need to certify its final levy at its Dec. 21 meeting.

MPS’ total proposed 2021 levy will be an increase of 5.29% compared to 2020, Caron said in his presentation. However, individual levy increases for property owners will vary. The levy changes are affected by a few different factors, including increased enrollment, increased costs for building leases, and increased operating capital, Caron said.

The total proposed school tax levy is about $7.8 million.

There are a lot of factors that can impact individual property owners’ tax bills, Caron said. Things like changes in property values, state legislation, changes in enrollment in the school district, and voter-approved referendums can all lead to changes in property taxes from year to year.

MPS, like school districts across Minnesota, faces funding challenges at the state level. The state’s general education revenue formula has not kept up with inflation since 2002-03, Caron said. However, the Minnesota Legislature did approve 2% increases to per-student funding for both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years. For MPS, that translates to an increase of $126 per student in the 2019-20 fiscal year, and $129 in the 2020-21 fiscal year. That brings MPS’ per-student funding to $6,567 this fiscal year.

It would still take funding increases of another 7.7%, or about $503, to keep up with inflation since 2002, Caron said.

There have been some developments, like the Ag2School Tax Credit that was established in 2017, that have helped reduce school levy burdens on agricultural land, Caron said. The revenue for Ag2School comes from state income, sales and other tax revenue. In 2021, the ag tax credit on bonds will be 55%, and it is scheduled to go up to 70% by 2023. The total proposed savings in the Marshall school district in 2020 was $519,654.28.

Caron said the proposed 2020-21 budget for MPS includes increases in the district’s general funds and transportation funds compared to the 2019-20 fiscal year, and decreases in the food service, community service, capital outlay and debt service funds.

Roughly half of the general fund expenditures for the 2020-21 fiscal year go toward regular school instruction, while another 20% goes toward special education. Salaries and benefits for educators and school staff make up a large part of those expenditures.