If the 20 or so people in attendance for Northfield School District’s levy information meeting Tuesday night were seeking joyous news, they were in the wrong place.

They were told that by Superintendent Chris Richardson that if district voters approved the proposed 10-year $1,604-per-student operating levy on Nov. 8, the district could afford to maintain current class sizes and program offerings—in other words, not face budget reductions—for at least three or four of those years.

“If the state increases our dollars, we will be able to go out longer,” said Richardson. “But right now, we don’t know what they (the state) will do.”

But, if that operating levy proposal is defeated and the district’s existing 7-year $1,270-per-student levy expires following the 2013-14 school year, district leaders said grim consequences could be in store, especially during the 2014-15 school year.

“If we are faced with cutting $6.7 million from our budget, our district will be fundamentally altered,” said School Board Chair Kari Nelson. “You will not be able to recognize it.”

On Nov. 8, district voters will be asked to revoke the existing operating levy and replace it with the $1,604 levy. In addition, they will decide on whether to extend the district’s current $750,000-per-year capital levy for another 10 years.

The operating levy helps pay the district’s day-to-day bills, like salaries and utility costs. It differs from the capital levy, which covers the costs of building upkeep and new textbooks.

The capital levy can be extended only if the new operating levy is approved first, Richardson said.

“Our hope is that people know our operating levy is our top concern,” he said.

With five weeks remaining before the levy votes, Tuesday’s public information session at Northfield High School was intended to be a time for residents to learn more about the district’s operating and capital levy proposals and an opportunity to ask questions. But the event had sparse attendance—most people there were either board members or district employees—and just two people asked questions.

Yet, the message delivered to those in the Northfield High auditorium was clear: the district cannot maintain its current level of education without a larger per-student operating tax levy.

Richardson blamed changes in state education funding—particularly, the shift in state aid payments that now allowed the state to hold up to 40 percent of those payments until later—for the district seeking more money from local taxpayers. That shift has led to a $7.5 million reduction in the Northfield district’s cash balance, including a $2.4 million drop during the current school year.

“They (state lawmakers) could balance the budget by making cuts, or they could balance the budget by making shifts,” Richardson said. “They made shifts.”

The district has offset the impact of state aid shifts, as well as no state or federal increases in three of the past six years, by cutting more than $4 million from its budget over the past six years, Richardson said. But without a higher per-student levy, more frequent and painful funding reductions are forecasted for the future.