MARSHALL — Marshall Public Schools is looking at a levy increase for the 2022-23 school year, but it will be a small one, school district staff said Monday.

During the district’s annual “Truth In Taxation” presentation, MPS Director of Business Services Dion Caron said overall, the levy would go up by about $58,000, or 0.74%.

“This is the total proposed levy. Individual increases will vary,” Caron said.

Caron went over MPS’s budget and levy information at Monday’s school board meeting.

“By Minnesota state law, we’re required to present this information,” Caron said. However, the school board would not be taking action to adopt a final levy until its Dec. 19 meeting, he said.

Caron compared the original 2022-23 budget MPS approved this summer with the audited budget from 2021-22. The 2022-23 budget includes over $33.6 million in general fund revenues, which is a 1.57% increase from the previous year.

“We do have an increase in our enrollment this year over last year,” which would have an effect on the district’s revenues, Caron said.

At the same time, the 2022-23 budget included a decrease in food service revenues of more than 18%. Caron said that estimated change reflected the end of federal funding to support free meals during the COVID pandemic.

“We’re expecting that revenue to drop quite a bit,” he said.

The 2022-23 budget also included over $33.9 million in general fund expenditures, which is a 3.8% increase over the previous year. Salaries and benefits make up the majority of general fund expenditures at MPS, Caron said.

Caron said some challenges for school funding are ongoing. The state’s education funding formula continues to lag behind inflation rates, he said. While state funding went up 2% for the 2022-23 fiscal year, it would need to increase another 18.4% to keep up with inflation.

In the tax levy portion of the presentation, Caron said the district was looking at a small overall levy increase.

“As you can see, we’re looking at a general fund increase of about 13.77%,” he said. “But our overall is an overall increase of just 0.74%, which is barely an increase when you’re talking that big of numbers.”

When it comes to tax impacts on individual properties, Caron said, a lot of different factors come into play. Those include changes in market values, state legislation, changes in school district enrollment, and voter-approved school referendums.

Caron said Minnesota’s Ag2School tax credit for farmers is increasing to 70% in 2023.

“That was increased over the last three years to 70%,” he said.

Due to the ag credit, landowners in the Marshall school district saved a total of more than $565,000 in 2021, and more than $651,000 in 2022. The increased ag credit is calculated to save Marshall area landowners more than $738,000 in 2023, Caron said.