Three Lakes School District adopts 2025-2026 budget

The Three Lakes School District examined its annual budget last Wednesday, followed by the regular monthly meeting.

District Business Manager Caleb Kleinhans reviewed the budget report for the 2024-25 school year, reporting that the district’s tax levy for 2024-25 is $10,214,391 — an increase of 1.06% compared to 2023-24.

The proposed mill rate for 2024-25 is $3.98 compared to $4,60 last year, resulting in a $.62 (about 17%) decrease in the district’s equalized valuation.
The board unanimously adopted the 2025-26 proposed budget for the district, including $350,000 for the Community Service Fund.

That fund is primarily the Rising Star Scholarship, funded by the Three Lakes Community Foundation and awarded to a graduating senior for their community service.

Also approved was a resolution that a tax be levied to raise $9,864,391 for the operations of the district and non-referendum debt.

The board voted unanimously to direct and provide funding to prosecute or defend any legal action or proceeding in which the school district is interested.
“We feel very good about where we’re at and really secure and confident that what we presented was very accurate,” stated District Administrator Teri Maney. “We took a break-even or small surplus this year which is exactly on target from when we did our operational referendum in November of 2022 for our five-year plan.”

That non-recurring operational referendum asked district voters to exceed state-imposed revenue limits by $4.25 million per year from the 2023-24 school year and ending with the 2027-28 school year.