Rochester School Board Set to Receive Property Tax Hike Proposal

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The Rochester School Board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday for a study session to discuss plans to hold another referendum later this year.

Superintendent Kent Pekel previously recommended the school district present voters with a school operating levy in November. At the time, he was not ready to recommend a dollar amount, but hinted that his proposal could call for a property tax increase that would generate between $10 million and $20 million annually for general school funding needs. Pekel is expected to unveil his detailed recommendations at Tuesday’s meeting.

Much of the focus of the study session will be on the results of a survey recently conducted by the Morris Weatherman Company. The consulting firm interviewed approximately 625 Rochester School District residents by contacting respondents with both cell phones and landline phones. The pollster responsible for the survey put its margin of error at plus-minus 4%.

Get our free mobile app

The results were generally favorable for an operating levy benefiting the public school system. It found more than 80% of the respondents rated the quality of the education provided by the Rochester School District as good or excellent. It also identified a lack of funding as the most serious issue facing the school district, although poor spending was the second highest ranked concern.

53% of the survey respondents felt the school district is not adequately funded. 38% described their school district property taxes as "about average" and 32% described the school portion of their property tax bill as "somewhat high." Only 15% rated the school taxes as "very high."

When asked if they would be supportive of a school property tax increase, just over 50% of the respondents described themselves as "persuadable" and 25% stated they would be supportive of any school district request. 23% responded that he would be against any tax increase.

The pollsters then asked the respondents about their feelings concerning an operating levy that would boost the Rochester School District's per-pupil funding by $1,284, which would increase overall school district funding about $22 million per year. 42% of the survey respondents indicated they would support the proposal and another 21% expressed strong support. Just under 35% stated they were opposed with 12% of those respondents strongly opposed.

After receiving additional information concerning a possible $22 million operating levy, the survey found the level of support increased to 46% with an additional 18% expressing strong support. The results found the percentage of the respondents opposed to a school property tax increase fell from about 35% to around 32%.

A previous Rochester School District referendum on a $10 million dollar technology levy was defeated by a margin of just over 300 votes.

READ MORE: Rochester Sales Tax Extension Approved-School District Levy Fails