October 28, 2021 at 2:32 p.m.
School board sets tax levy, budget for 2021-22 school year
District to hold referendum in 2022
School board sets tax levy, budget for 2021-22 school year
In explaining the budget to the audience at the electors' meeting, Robert Thom, SDR director of business services, said the $38,238,182 budget will be paid for with $23,629,661 in property taxes while the rest will come from the state or federal governments.
The mill rate will go up 20 cents from $9.77 per each $1,000 of assessed value to $9.97. This will result in taxes on a $100,000 home increasing from $977 to $997.
Thom noted that state aid has gone down over the last several years, but district voters have stepped up to close the gap.
"Fortunately for Rhinelander, the community has had several referendums (to exceed revenue limits) over many years," Thom said. "It's been a great thing for the district, we've been able to do remodeling and do projects that have maintained everything."
The revenue limit for 2021-22 will be $28,907,572, an increase of $120,000 or 0.42 percent from the year before.
Thom pointed out that the revenue limit has been relatively unchanged since the 2016-17 school year.
"It's not going up," he said, noting revenue limits are determined by enrollment and other factors.
He said the state legislature hasn't done anything to address the continued decline in state aid while keeping the revenue limit for districts like Rhinelander low.
"If it were not for the operating referendums we have been passing that have really been allowing the district to operate, if we were at the mercy of the state legislature, we would be in serious financial trouble," he said.
One page of the packet available to district voters at the meeting details the disparity between the share of the district budget paid for by local property taxes and state aid. In 2003-04 school year budget, the total revenue limit was $26,689,149, with $11,337,277 or 42 percent coming in state aid. The last time the state aid share of the SDR budget was over 20 percent of the total revenue was in the 2009-10 school year when it was 24 percent.
"You can see for this year, the property tax will be $23,629,661. Now if you go all the way back to 2014, it was $24,131,351," Thom said. "So the property taxes have stayed pretty flat for a long, long time."
Thom said the equalized value of the property within the district tax increased about $42,000, which resulted in an increase in the tax levy of $923,394.
"Last year we were at $9.77 per thousand for the schools. So if you had a $100,000 house, you paid $977 in school taxes," Thom said. "This year, now, we're looking at going to $9.97 per thousand. So only a 20 cent increase."
He said property values in the Rhinelander area increased 1.70 percent from last year, which was nowhere near the statewide average of 6.62 percent.
Getting into the budget itself, Thom noted the general fund balance is currently at just over $14 million.
"And we're projecting a balanced budget for next year," he said, noting this should result in the fund balance being unchanged.
He then took the audience through the property taxes, state and federal aid portions of the revenue side of the budget.
Thom also noted that the debt the district owes on previously authorized construction will be paid off in a few more years, which will free up money for other uses.
Thom also said what federal COVID-related aid the district knows is coming is already earmarked for allowable purposes such as the additions to Crescent Elementary School.
It was also explained that the district is putting donations for things like the Hodag Dome into a capital projects fund which was started last year. According to Thom, the money in this fund doesn't count against the state aid formula, and can be used to pay for projects, while at the same time may result in a little more state aid in the future.
Next the electors were asked to vote on six standard resolutions. All were approved, however two generated discussion from the audience, which will be detailed in a future edition.
The annual meeting was then adjourned. After a short recess, the board reconvened for a special meeting. The board unanimously approved the tax levy of $25,159,661 and the 2021-22 budget with $38,238,182 in total revenue with $38,238,182 in total expenditures.
The board then turned its attention to the subject of authorizing another referendum, to be held in November 2022, to exceed the revenue limits for operations.Voters will be asked to grant the district the authority to exceed the revenue limits by $4 million a year for four years, starting in the 2022-23 school year when the current referendum expires.
"We looked at the number that was used in the last referendum, and we reduced that based on what we believe to be in the best interest of the community," district superintendent Eric Burke said.
Based on the results of the facilities study the district is conducting, the district might be able to avoid levying the entire $4 million by year three or four, he added.
After a motion directing the administrative team to prepare for the referendum was made, it was amended slightly to note that the vote would be in November 2022 and that the money is for operational needs only. After the amendment passed, the amended motion passed unanimously.
The board also approved a plan to hire one contracted rotating guest teacher and two rotating guest teaching assistants to augment the substitute teacher and teaching assistant pool.
Burke told the board the idea was first discussed back in August.
"And we weren't sure," he said. "And we're just seeing a lot of absences due to a variety of reasons."
He said the hope is these positions could be filled for the remainder of the school year. The difference between hiring someone to fill the three positions and paying long term pay to subs would be about $4,500.
"The overall cost is very minimal because we were planning subs anyhow," Burke said.
The board approved the request unanimously.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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