2 1/2-year effort pays off with federal aid qualification.

A $1.7 million windfall for property tax revenue lost through creation of the National Park is coming to the Glen Lake school district.

Superintendent Joan Groening learned this week the county’s largest school district by area will receive the federal impact aid through the U.S. Department of Education.
“Since the 2005-06 school year our district has cut $650,000 from our budget,” Groening said Tuesday. “We’ve been on a limited budget and have made do with what we had delaying the purchase of textbooks and technology. There are plenty of places we can use this.”

Word of the award comes 2 ½ years after Groening began an application process that involved dozens and dozens of hours and thousands of documents.

“I started this about the time (former superintendent) Tom Harwood was here,” she said.

Groening, who served as the district’s business manager prior to her appointment as superintendent and chief fiscal agent in 2006, is a certified public accountant with credentials as a certified managerial accountant. She learned Glen Lake could be eligible for aid through the U.S. Department of Education, which provides awards to school districts that have lost property tax revenue as the result of military installations, Indian reservations and other federal properties. However, to qualify she had to document that the assessed valuation of the (federal) property represents 10 percent or more of the total property in the district at the time (or times) of federal acquisition.

“I was overwhelmed,” Groening recalled.

Empire Township assessor Chris Krellwitz, board President Joan Hawley and county Equalization department manager Pam Zientek chipped in to help identify National Park properties from the six county townships that make up the school district, including Kasson, Solon, Empire, Glen Arbor, Cleveland and Centerville.

“Thirty percent of the square mileage of our district is National Park,” she said.

Properties were then broken down by category (agricultural, etc.) and acreage for a 10-year period from 1970 to 1980.

“We had to show the original owner of the property, how much it was assessed, the property tax number and classification,” Groening said, adding that the fair market value of properties adjacent to the park had to be determine to impute the value of the property no longer on the tax roll. “We had to prove that 10 percent of our assess value was taken off the tax rolls as a result of the federal park.”

Groening estimates that in the process she reviewed 2,445 tax records and copied more than 43,000 documents that were submitted to the Department of Education.
She credits staff members Mary Kubesh and Tami Jackson with doing some of the legwork required.

“They were really critical with getting the application in on time.”

In the time since application was first made Glen Lake has gone from an in-formula school district that relies primary on state foundation allowance to an out-of-formula district, which derives its operational fund from local property tax revenue. This has eased financial constraints somewhat compared to Suttons Bay and Leland ,which are in-formula. The school also levies a property tax that provides money for facilities improvements that would otherwise be supported through operational funds.

A comprehensive needs assessment for the school will be completed to establish priorities for the cash influx. Sure to be on the list is the purchase of text books and a technology update.

Glen Lake has three computer labs— two at the secondary level and one at the elementary. The life of computers was extended somewhat by replacement of “mother boards,” but most of the units are seven years old and have outlived their use.

“We’ve been working with a technology consultant to see how we can bring more technology into the classroom enhance student achievement,” she said.

Meanwhile, the money will remain untouched in an interest-bearing account.
News of the award sounded good Wednesday to Leland Superintendent Mike Hartigan, whose district is one year into the federal application process. North Manitou Island’s acreage lies within the National Park and is part of the Leland School District.

“With its 16,000 acres, we come in right above the 10 percent threshold,” he said.

Leland voters are being asked to approve a 5-year, .25-mill property tax levy to pay for $600,000 in bonds which would be sold to cover costs which do not lie within the uses allowed through its sinking fund.

“If we don’t get the bonds, we’ll be some hurtin’ puppies,” Hartigan said. “If we were to get an impact award, we wouldn’t need to levy the entire millage … We’d be fair with taxpayers.”

Suttons Bay’s per-pupil allowance from the state is the lowest in the state at $7,460. Leland’s foundation allowance is just over $8,000 per student.

“I can’t even think about what I could do with that kind of money,” Mike Murray, Suttons Bay’s top administrator, said.

Ironically, funds for districts impacted by Indian reservations has fallen. Suttons Bay counts on between $200,000 and $230,000 in impact aid annually.