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HARTINGTON — Hartington-Newcastle Public Schools is cutting its overall tax rate about 14% while increasing spending next year. The Hartington-Newcastle school board unanimously approved its new $12,023,257 budget Thursday night.
The district’s taxable valuation rose 19%, from $1.44 billion last year to $1.71 billion this year. The district has land in both Cedar and Dixon counties. Dixon County valuations went up 21.6%, while Cedar County valuations rose 18.1%.
With that larger base, the district is requesting $6,513,224 in property taxes, up about 3% from last year’s $6,330,992. The levy totals 38.06 cents per $100 of valuation, down from 44.02 cents a year ago. The General Fund levy falls from 33.13 cents to 28.97 cents, and the Special Building Fund levy from 10.89 cents to 9.09 cents.
Superintendent A.J. Johnson said a large part of that building fund — $1.1 million — will go to pay down the loan for the new elementary school addition. The board also agreed Thursday to pay an additional $200,000 on the school addition loan.
Johnson said there is no penalty for paying the loan early, which is expected to be paid off in four years. “It just makes sense, since the school will be able to save some money on interest by doing this,” he said.
Johnson said there is only one outof- the-ordinary expense planned in the budget this year. The district will need to purchase a new bus, which typically costs about $120,000. He said the board is also considering a new parking area to ease some of the parking issues at the school.
Even with these additional expenses, Johnson said he was pleased the budget did not require a large increase. He said last year the district had one of the 10 lowest property tax levies in the state and he expects that to be the case again this year.
Hartington-Newcastle School Board President Jason Dendinger said he was pleased with the way the budget came out. “We were able to drop the overall levy. That’s always our goal — to keep the levy as low as possible,” he said. “We have one of the lower levies in the state. We always try to keep it low.”
The Budget Summary lists $13,677,115 in 2025-26 disbursements and transfers, up about $3.7 million from last year’s actual/ estimated $9,975,180. Johnson said the budget is higher than the actual amount needed to operate the school for the next 12 months. The main reasons for the increase are inflation and staff raises, he said. This year’s budget may look high, but the higher amount is listed as a cushion, he said.
“We have to preserve our spending authority in case something happens down the road and you need to expend some funds you didn’t plan on,” he said. “If those funds aren’t available in the budget, then we are unable to spend funds to fix the issue.”
Even though the state is concerned about a possible shortfall and the federal government has been cutting programs and eliminating funds, Johnson said the new budget does not take into account any potential cuts in state or federal aid.
“That could affect next year’s budget, but not this year,” he said. “The biggest concern I have is what’s going to happen in the future. I’m concerned the state may not be able to continue to provide state aid at the same rate it has been. If it can’t keep doing that, then some of that burden will have to fall back on the local property taxpayer.”
