Marshall County Board of Education members unanimously approved the submission to the State Tax Commissioner and the State Board of Education of a proposed tax levy rate of 82% for 2025-26, the same rate as the year prior, during a late March meeting.

Board members agreed upon the proposed tax levy rate despite a $44 million decrease in tax levy revenue recorded for the Fiscal Year of 2026 compared to FY 2025. Board President John Miller said the board will “keep their fingers on the purse string” to help them through the year with the decrease in revenue.

“We’re not where we’d like to be, but we can manage and keep our bills paid while moving forward at the current levy rate,” Miller said. “We had a one-time windfall last year and I think we’ve made it through the hard times very well. It’s still a huge decrease in one year, but planning and budgeting will carry us through.”

Marshall County Schools Treasurer Nan Hartley attributed the $44 million tax levy revenue decrease for FY 2026 to a “major reduction” in Class III property taxes. These are taxes on personal property outside municipalities, which Hartley said is “not homeowners” and is “mostly equipment-based.”

Hartley noted that compared to FY 2024, tax levy revenue increased by $4.5 million in FY 2026.

Superintendent Shelby Haines said that the tax levy rate revenue of FY 2026 and that of FY 2024 were “very equitable and equivalent.”

“It was just that we had a significant increase [in tax levy rate revenue] for the current year that we aren’t going to get again,” Haines said.

Before they discussed the proposed tax levy rate, Hartley informed board members that the equivalent of a single percentage change in the tax levy rate would be about $580,000.

Board member Lori Kestner said she would play “devil’s advocate” for a future board of education that has to increase the levy rate. She noted that the board had lowered the tax levy rate for “several years in a row.” The last decrease in the tax levy rate occurred last year when board members approved decreasing the levy rate by 3% to bring the levy rate down to 82%

“Once you go down [in the tax levy rate], it’s very difficult to go back up,” Kestner said. “I just want to warn that there may come a day when a board sits at this table and might have to say, ‘Look, things have changed.’ We’ve done very well with what we’ve had with Nan’s [Hartley] help, and we’ve managed to invest in some good things for the county, but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

“I am good at staying at 82%, and I just hope we never have to climb back up that hill,” Kestner continued.

Board member Duane Miller also voiced his approval for keeping the tax levy rate the same as last year. He noted that he was against decreasing it by 5% for 2024-25 due to a situation such as the decrease in tax levy revenue this year.

“I did not want to vote on 5% [decrease] last year because just one year later the situation could turn around 180 degrees,” Duane Miller said. “That turnaround is what happened this year.”

Board member Brenda Coffield added that Duane Miller had commented that “you never know what the future holds,” which she agreed with regarding keeping the tax levy rate the same.

“We’re just going to stay right where we are,” Haines said concerning the proposed tax levy rate.

The board will then reconvene on Tuesday, April 15, to give the tax levy rate final approval.