Finances dog Carlton

Following Monday’s Truth in Taxation hearing, Carlton school board members voted unanimously to set the school district’s payable 2023 levy at just over $1.5 million, down from $1.6 million in 2022. The board adopted the 2022-23 total budget at just over $7 million, with expected revenues at $6.66 million, a projected deficit of $348,101.

While it might come as a relief to taxpayers, a decline of nearly $100,000 (6.14 percent) in the school levy isn’t a good thing for the school district, which seeing increased expenses.

But most revenues are tied to student numbers, so when student numbers go...