Schools craft new TIF policy
The Whitefish School District approved guidelines last week that help the district plan for its future. The board OK’d the first reading of a policy for how the district deals with tax increment funds.
The school district receives TIF money through an interlocal agreement with the city. The funds are given to the school bi-annually through 2020, when the TIF district sunsets.
Trustee Ruth Harrison explained that a TIF committee will meet annually in July.
“We’ll have an annual review to assess where we are and what is going into the reserve account,” she said. “When the TIF sunsets we will have a planning session on how we will manage the remaining funds.”
The policy says that the TIF money will be distributed among district-designated special funds to be overseen by the board. The funds will be used to supplement specific areas rather than the general fund.
The committee will determine plans for each school year and present them to the board.
The special funds include four accounts: facility maintenance and improvement expense, facility maintenance and improvement reserve, leadership and professional development, and research and development expendable trust.
The facility expense account will be used for maintenance projects and any balance will be moved into the facility reserve account. Funds in the reserve account can’t be spent until 2021, according to the policy. These two accounts will receive 52 percent of the money.
Unobligated funds in the leadership and professional development account will be moved to the research trust and also can’t be used until 2021. The two accounts will get 48 percent of the money.
Each year the school district receives money from the city from its TIF district. A typical payment from the city is about $300,000, although last year the district received double that amount.
Past TIF funds have been used for remodel work, roof replacements and heating and cooling systems. The district has already put some of its TIF money toward constructing the new high school and has designated $212,000 toward matching money for a grant to renovate the gym.
The district has received roughly $4.5 million from the TIF thus far and could see $5 million more before the TIF ends.
In other action, the board:
• Approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of $14 million in bonds for construction of the new high school. Also approved soil and survey proposals for the high school construction. The soil survey will be completed by NTL Engineering & Geoscience at a cost of $10,350. Survey work will be done by Jackola Engineering for $6,970.
• Tabled a hiring list for school district staff.
• Approved membership in the Northwest Montana Schools Cooperative and payment of dues to the Montana Quality Education Coalition.
• Approved a high school senior community projects day for June 1. Students will volunteer throughout the city on that day.
• Approved resignations for Amy Hickman and Dan Kohnstamm as Honor Society advisor and hires: Liz Hopkins, Greta Norcross, Courtney Ferda, Tim Olson as high school golf coach and Christine Newton as high school assistant golf coach.