Tuesday, Dec. 4 is the date for the annual property tax and budget hearing in ISD 831. The hearing is set for 7 p.m. in the media center at Forest Lake High School, 6101 Scandia Trail N. The hearing is an opportunity for the public to comment and ask questions regarding the amount of money the district plans to levy for property taxes to support the school budget in the 2008-2009 school year. The district is proposing a total property tax levy of $16.22 million payable in 2008, an increase of $1.92 million or 13.4 percent over the amount the district collected in 2007. The 2007 actual levy payable was $14.4 million. The bulk of the increase comes in the general fund which is proposed to grow by 20.5 percent or $1,932,966 from $9.45 million payable in 2007 to $11.38 million payable in 2008. Final approval of the property tax levy payable in 2008 will come at a later meeting.

Mark Robertson, Fridley superintendent of schools and a Forest Lake resident, has been named the state’s top superintendent by the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. The award was announced on Nov. 21. Robertson was principal at Forest Lake High School for six years, before leaving in 2003 to become to the top educational leader in the Fridley school district. Prior to his post in Forest Lake, Robertson was a teacher and administrator at Blaine High School from 1976 until 1997. He is a native of the Worthington area.