Joint Public Hearing Sept. 26th
Legislative Bill 644 created new procedures for school districts. Districts that exceed their specific allowable growth of their tax request are required to participate in a joint hearing at the county level. Our school district held the annual budget hearing on September 12th as normal. Should schools participate in the joint hearing, it replaces what was the annual tax request hearing at the local level. Property owners in school districts that are participating in the joint meeting, received pink postcards from the county. Should school districts not need to participate in the joint meeting, no postcards were sent.
Superintendent Meyerle will represent Diller-Odell Public Schools at the Joint Public Hearing at the Gage County Courthouse District Court on Monday, September 26th at 6:30 pm.
The participation is due to the fact that the school district needs to exceed the allowable tax request growth for our school district. Beatrice Public Schools and Southern Public Schools will also participate in this county meeting. Ideally, we would not need to do this. However, with increased staffing costs, services for students with special needs, the purchase of new buses, and inflation, we have no choice but to increase our tax request to the recommended amount.
Diller-Odell Public Schools participates in the meeting in Gage County, as schools that have area in more than one county shall participate in the meeting within the county in which the political subdivisions' principal headquarters are located.
The School Board and administration are dedicated to serving our students. We feel fortunate that our General Fund Levy is still proposed to be .660783, which is lower than most neighboring districts. The Special Building Fund Levy is proposed to be .126351, and the overall levy .787134.
We will have our new gym paid for in two years and the Special Building Fund Levy can be dramatically reduced at that time.
Should you have questions, please contact Mike Meyerle at 402-766-4210 (office) 402-230-0958 (mobile) or mmeyerle@dillerodell.org