Spreadsheet: 4231167f-ee42-4c8a-b359-af48e448f061
Sheet: Guide

GUIDE TO THE FILE
The purpose of this file is to explain districts' operating referendum authorities.
The file consists of a number of worksheets:
Thru06 |  |  | Authorities for FY 2007 through FY 2018,
 |  |  | based on elections held in CY 2006 and earlier.
Thru05 |  |  | Authorities for FY 2004 through FY 2017,
 |  |  | based on elections held in CY 2005 and earlier.
Thru01 |  |  | Authorities for FY 2001 through FY 2014,
 |  |  | based on elections held in CY 2001 and earlier.
 |  |  | The first 3 lines of Thru06 are explained by Thru05.
 |  |  | The first line of Thru05 is explained by Thru01.
Guide |  |  | You're in this worksheet now.
Law |  |  | The statutes behind the calculations.
Pre1989 |  |  | A listing of all successful operating referendums passed prior to calendar year 1989.
 |  |  | Referendum authorities are shown as mill rates.
New8990 |  |  | A listing of all successful operating referendums passed in 1990 and 1991.
 |  |  | Referendum authorities are shown as tax capacity rates.
 |  |  | The rates shown here don't match the rates shown in Thru01.
 |  |  | This is because rates have been adjusted to reflect changes over the years
 |  |  | in the tax class multipliers used to translate market values into net tax capacities.
 |  |  | In Thru01, all referendums passed prior to 1991 are shown as having
 |  |  | been created in 1990.  To find their actual years of creation, consult [NAME] and
 |  |  | New8990.
New9105 |  |  | A listing of all successful and unsuccessful operating referendums passed in calendar
 |  |  | years 1991 through 2005, expressed as dollars per pupil unit..
New2006 |  |  | A listing of all successful and unsuccessful operating referendums passed in calendar
 |  |  | year 2006.
Consol |  |  | Calculations of authorities for districts that first exist in FY 2007.
Various other worksheets hold inputs that are used by the worksheets listed above.
Notes on the calculations:
The Thru01 worksheet explains existing referendum allowances from FY 2001 to FY 2014, based on
authorities created before calendar year 2002.
The latest that any of these authorities can continue is FY 2013.  (If an authority were created in 2001
with a one year delay and 10 years of effectiveness, it would apply for FY 2004 through FY 2013.) Since
all included authorities expire no later than FY 2013, every district has an existing FY 2014 authority of
zero.
Calculations reflect the following complications:
I. | Many authorities that were created before 1991 did not originally have expiration dates.  Most of
 | these authorities were converted from a net tax capacity basis to a referendum market value basis
 | some time between taxes payable in 1996 and taxes payable in 2001.   Those authorities
 | converted by payable 1998 remain in effect through FY 2008.  Those converted after payable 1998
 | but by payable 2001 continue through FY 2006.
II. | Some authorities were partially converted for payable 1998, and partially converted for a later year.
 | These authorities have been split into two portions. This explains why many districts are shown to
 | have two authorities with the same year of creation.  (For simplicity's sake, all authorities created
 | before 1991 are shown to have a creation year of 1990.)
III. | In FY 2001, referendum authorities were redefined by the following process:
 | A. | Rate-based authorities were converted to dollars per RMCPU.
 |  | These conversions are shown in the lower left portion of the Calculations worksheet.  Note
 |  | that these conversions could not be finalized until FY 2001 RMCPU's were finalized.
 |  | Conversions from rates to dollars per RMCPU are now complete, except for districts that
 |  | experience pupil audits or that successfully appeal their FY 2001 pupil counts.
 |  | Here's an example that makes two points: Grand Rapids #318 has an authority of $291.04
 |  | per resident marginal cost pupil unit (RMCPU) that was created in or before 1990.  This
 |  | amount is shown in the lower left portion of the Calculations worksheet, where its conversion
 |  | from a tax rate is shown. Higher on the page, the $291.04  is split into $218.28 of gross
 |  | authority that expires after FY 2006 and $72.76 that expires after FY 2008.  Only 25% of the
 |  | gross authority continues after FY 2006 because only 25% was converted to a referendum
 |  | market value basis for payable 1998.
 | B. | For districts with authorities from more than one referendum election, or from an authority
 |  | from a single election with a partial expiration after FY 2006, authorities were sorted with
 |  | respect to expiration date.
 | C. | A double reduction was then applied to these authorities:
 |  | 1. | Authorities were first reduced to reflect the cap on referendum revenue.  Any reduction
 |  |  | for the cap was applied first to the authority with the first scheduled expiration date.  If
 |  |  | the total reduction for the cap exceeded the gross amount of the authority with the first
 |  |  | expiration date, the remaining reduction for the cap was applied to the authority with the
 |  |  | second expiration date.
 |  | 2. | Remaining authorities were then reduced to reflect the referendum allowance reduction.
 |  |  | The allowance reduction was applied first to the authority with the first scheduled
 |  |  | expiration date, as reduced for the referendum cap.  If the total allowance reduction
 |  |  | exceeded the authority with the first expiration date, the remaining allowance reduction
 |  |  | was applied to the authority with the second expiration date.
IV. | In FY 2003, referendum authorities were again redefined:
 | A. | First, many districts' authorities were increased by a conversion allowance, reflecting FY
 |  | 2002 supplemental and transition revenues plus a lost interest allowance.  (Supplemental and
 |  | transition revenues were cancelled after FY 2002.  The lost interest allowance is based on the
 |  | FY 2003 cancellation of the general education levy; the corresponding substitution of aids for
 |  | levies causes a slower cash flow, which in turn reduces interest revenue.)  Calculation of
 |  | conversion allowances will not be finalized until FY 2002 general education revenues are
 |  | finalized.  Recent estimates of conversion allowances are shown  in the lower right portion of
 |  | the Calculations worksheet.
 | B. | Next, authorities were reduced by $415 to reflect a corresponding increase to basic revenue.
 |  | The $415 reduction is first applied to the conversion allowance, then to the authority with the
 |  | first expiration date, then to the authority with the second expiration date.
 | C. | The $415 reduction applies only to authorities created on or before April 30, 2001.  Authorities
 |  | created after this date can be taken at face value.
V. | A number of districts have passed referendums that cancel existing referendum authority.  This is
 | generally dealt with by adjusting the cancelled authority's last year of application.  For example,
 | Kingsland #2137 created a $485.36 authority in 1990 or earlier that -- after its conversion in payable
 | 2001 from net tax capacity to referendum market value -- was scheduled to apply through FY 2006.
 | The district cancelled this authority in 2001 at the same time that it created a new authority of
 | $300.00.  Because of this cancellation, the old authority is listed with an expiration year of FY 2002
 | rather than FY 2006.
 | Partial cancellations and other quirks are sometimes dealt with through the formulas used in Thru01.
 | If you study these formulas you will see that they sometimes take this form:
 | =IF(DNUMBER=X,SPECIAL FORMULA,REGULAR FORMULA).