JUDA — Though a handful of area school districts are including referendum questions on the ballot Tuesday, only one school could be impacted enough to be forced to close in the distant future if funding is not secured.
The referendum question on the ballot for residents of Juda School District asks if the district can exceed the tax limit by up to $350,000 on a recurring basis. The purpose is to maintain operating costs, like paying for curriculum, utilities, technology and other day-to-day expenses.
Carol Wirth, president of Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals LLC of Brookfield, presented the plan Tuesday in the school cafeteria. It was one of three public information meetings held on the topic.
Juda School Board members Dennis Pfingsten and Eric Makos, who attended all of the presentations, said attendance has been limited to about two people each session, as was the case that night.
“The turnout hasn’t been real large,” Pfingsten said, noting that as a member of community groups, he has not been approached with questions or concerns either. “I would think if they had major questions about it, they would speak to us about it.”
Need for the referendum is due to declining enrollment and a state-imposed cap which requires permission from voters to exceed the revenue limit gained from property taxes in order to pay for operating expenses, Wirth said. Revenue caps decrease as district enrollment goes down.
While the district passed a $150,000 referendum in the spring of 2016, it was working with projected numbers because aid calculations are not certain until the fall. The tax impact of a school is figured by counting the student enrollment in the third Friday of September, the equalized tax values of the district released on Oct. 1 and the state aid certification totals, which are not given out until mid-October.
The estimated numbers fell short two years ago. The revenue limit calculation was projected to be over $2.7 million, but instead was $2.6 million as a result of declining full-time enrollment.
Superintendent Traci Davis said that while enrollment has declined in recent years, down to 244 this year from 257 students in the 2013-14 school year, the number of open enrollment students has been the same “for the most part.”
As a result of the declining full-time enrollment, the revenue was roughly $100,000 lower than expected and the $150,000 in referendum funds did not adequately address shortcomings in operation costs. Now that the election is being held in the fall, Davis said the district has actual numbers to figure in costs.
The 2016 recurring funds will continue, with the added $350,000 exceeding the tax limit indefinitely. The new rate for school taxes would be $13.63 per $1,000 of value, or $1,363 for a $100,000 home if the question were to be approved. It would be an increase of $1.17, or $117 for the owner of $100,000 house. If voters turned it down, the tax rate would decrease to $1,062 per $100,000 of home value.
Juda School Board member Sue Trotter said the matter was discussed at length by board members.
“It was not a light decision,” Trotter said.
Davis said the choice of a referendum is not uncommon in Wisconsin. Dozens of others are taking place throughout the state on the Nov. 6 ballot, including nearby Monroe, Brodhead and New Glarus.
The Monroe school district has two questions on the ballot, one asking that the revenue limit be exceed by $1.5 million annually for five years, beginning in the 2019-20 school year. The second asks permission to borrow $3.36 million to replace an outdated heating and cooling system, and for safety and accessibility updates at Parkside Elementary School. The referendum will not increase taxes for residents due to the retirement of debt the district had previously been paying off.
Brodhead School District also has a referendum on the upcoming ballot asking to exceed the revenue limit by $950,000 annually over three years beginning in the 2019-20 school year. The purpose is to maintain current programs and cover operating expenses as a replacement to a previous expiring referendum. The tax rate, currently at $8.50 per $1,000 of home value, is projected to gradually increase if the referendum question is approved by voters. In the 2018-19 year, it would bump up to $857 in school taxes for a $100,000 house and end at $913 in the 2021-22 school year.
The School District of New Glarus agreed Aug. 21 on two referendum questions. The first asks for a recurring amount of $500,000 beginning with the 2019-20 school year for operating expenses. The other is for a non-recurring, one-year referendum for $1.2 million in the 2018-19 school year to purchase land for possible expansion.
Superintendent Jennifer Thayer has said neither will increase taxes. The reason for the operating referendum in New Glarus is different than the one in Juda; they have increasing enrollment.
District officials anticipate that the number of students in the New Glarus High School will grow by at least 90 within four years and will need to add staff for the growing number of pupils. The district also plans to continue to update equipment and outdated classrooms.
It also plans to acquire a 50-acre parcel in the village near Legler Valley Road, 8th Street and 10th Avenue in order to plan for future facilities development, something residents have expressed interest in through a petition.
Juda can attempt another referendum in the spring, but after that, Davis said a new law prohibits any questions for an entire year, which may mean the end of the district. Makos and Pfingsten said the board has concerns over what would happen if the vote fails.
“I think it definitely is just looking at what the numbers would look like with, and without it passing, and decisions we’d have to consider if it doesn’t; those are big decisions that have to be made,” Makos said. “This school is kind of the heartbeat of the community, I would say, and important to the people here.”