By Joanna Miller

Staff Writer

Despite a legislative shift that would allow the Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board to ask voters for close to $4.78 million in the upcoming operating levy referendum, the board stuck to its guns Monday and kept the levy at $4.5 million.

The difference is about $30 per pupil unit.

In a 6-0 vote, with Board Member Diane Ziemann absent, the board approved revoking the current levy of $841 per pupil and replacing it with an increased levy of $1,440 per pupil.

Director of Business Affairs Margo Nash said the average home value in Prior Lake is $305,000 and is $285,000 in Savage.

The $4.5 million levy means an increase of $330 in taxes for a $300,000 home.

Had the board increased the levy to the cap, it would have resulted in an estimated $17 more in taxes on the same home.

Board members noted $17 isn’t a lot per individual home, and it would add up to a $234,436 total difference. However, in the end, they decided they didn’t need to ask taxpayers for the extra boost.

“We have to continue to lobby St. Paul,” Board Member Sue Bruns said. “We can’t continue to do this locally.”

During an open forum, one resident spoke in favor of the levied taxes; no one spoke in opposition to the board’s proposal.

Board Member Eric Pratt said if voters approve the $4.5 levy referendum, it would allow for funding necessary to operate Redtail Ridge Elementary, a school voters already approved for construction.

“We run one of the leanest districts in the state,” Pratt said.

Superintendent Tom Westerhaus said there isn’t anything frivolous in the lower levy amount that the board will ask voters to pass this fall.

“I think with the advantages of the legislative session, we should be able to look at the lower amount,” he said.

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com.