Muscatine school board holds public hearing on FY2027 certified budget after state aid updated to 2%

The Muscatine Community School District board of directors opened a public hearing on its FY2027 certified budget and explained that the mailed public notice used a 0% state supplemental aid (SSA) assumption and a 10% property-value increase, while the state later set SSA at 2%, reducing the district's proposed tax rate.

Board members present—Director Cooney, Deit, Dolby, Phillips and Schneider—took a roll call and voted to open the hearing. A clerk’s statement described the calculation assumptions in the notice, directed that any written comments be entered into the record and explained public-comment procedures.

Two residents spoke during the public-comment period. "When I look at the paper here, just for the school budget they're trying to go up $294,000," said Ron Nouse, a Muscatine resident, who said the total tax impact across jurisdictions appeared to be about 4.4 percent and asked why that is higher than the state's 2 percent limit. He urged the district, city and county to coordinate more often—suggesting joint budget meetings and adoption of zero-based budgeting to identify unnecessary expenditures.

Charles Lovenson told the board he was concerned that many residents are not keeping pace with cost-of-living increases and questioned whether management is doing enough to control taxes. "There is no reason why there shouldn't be a way of the school board saying this is what we're doing to keep our taxes in check," he said.

The clerk reported no written comments had been received; one oral comment had been received by phone. After public comment, a motion to close the hearing passed on roll call, and the board later moved to adjourn.

The hearing was informational: the board did not adopt the certified budget at this meeting and did not take a final vote on tax levies during the public hearing. The district noted that the state’s SSA and the state guarantee will decrease the proposed tax rate; other detailed budget decisions and any follow-up actions were not specified at the hearing.