This past Monday evening, the Annual Elector's Meeting was held.
District Administration, perhaps listening to the community substantially compressed their presentation to 14 slides and about 15 minutes tops. That allowed residents plenty of time to speak, and it seems as if many just wanted to be heard. Overall, we commend Phil Frei for his abbreviated, yet information packed presentation.
Tax Levy increase to be 3.18%
The tax levy which was approved was $45,824,571, which translates to a 3.56% increase over last year. When asked to explain the difference, Deputy District Administrator and Business Manager Phil Frei responded that once the board approves the levy for the public meeting, it can only be changed by the electors. He added that due to the receipt of more computer aid than expected, the actual levy increase is expected to be 3.18%. This means the actual final levy once the smoke clears is projected to be about $45,656,424.
Clearing the Mill Rate ($12.16) confusion
Most people are more concerned with the mill rate than the tax levy, since the mill rate determines how much the average homeowner will have to pony up for property taxes. While this year's mill rate represents an 8.2% increase over last year, we cannot lose sight of the impact that depressed real estate valuations had on the mill rate. The city of Sun Prairie's Equalized (property) Value was down over 5%. In recent years, the district averaged over 5% GAINS annually. This year, the final numbers were down 4.9%.
If this year's tax levy were imposed on last year's Equalized Value (i.e. using a "flat" 0% increase to property values) the mill rate would be approximately $11.70. That means that a $0.46 mill rate increase ($115 on a $250K home) is solely attributed to declines in property value...NOT the district budget. That is an important consideration.
The Bottom Line
- The district is opening an $80M high school and a $20M renovation for the new Upper Middle School.
- The budget is over $3,000,000 underneath the Revenue Limit (which will help next year)
- The school board seems to be holding a tight rein on salary increases and insurance premium co-pays.
- A 3.18% levy increase while opening $100M of construction (essentially 2 new schools) is seriously a pretty decent accomplishment.
Yes, we'd all like a 0% increase. But like desire for world peace; albeit nice that's seriously unrealistic outcome.
Next (gulp) Year
We've heard the rumblings that we should expect a double digit increase to the levy next year. This is where the rubber hits the road, and the school board has to give serious thought to thinking outside the box regarding the 2011-12 school year.
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