Wausau School District. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau School Board Education and Operations Committee has given initial approval to the 2021-’22 budget and tax levy.
District Finance and Business Services Officer Bob Tess says taxpayers may be pleasantly surprised to see their mill rates remaining flat compared to last year’s budget thanks to responsible debt retirement in years past, meaning at the very least the school portion of their tax bills should remain stable.
“The good news is we had some flexibility in pre-paying old referendum debt, so we will choose to pre-pay less of that to keep the mill rate exactly flat from what it was last year in spite of one successful referendum,” said Tess.
As always Tess says other factors go into that including action from the Department of Revenue which isn’t expected to come down until later this fall.
“The school board controls the total levy, and then the DOR splits it up- how much the City of Wausau gets, the Town of Stettin gets. Then each of those municipalities also has a say in how they tax their individual taxpayers as well,” he added.
There’s also the annual wild card in the property tax bill that is the lottery credit- which fluctuates from year to year based on the Lottery’s profits from the prior year. That also has an impact on the annual tax bill for property owners.
District leaders are not ruling out the possibility of another referendum question during the April 2022 non-partisan election. During Monday’s meeting, they also heard a presentation on plans for an information campaign on the needs of the district which would include a social media and web presence along with mailers and presentations to community groups. The campaign would end in December with consideration of a referendum in April.
The proposed 2021-’22 tax levy currently sits at $10.29 per $1,000 of assessed value. The budget currently sits at nearly $113 million for expenses. More information on those numbers will be presented during the September 27th annual budget meeting, and can also be found on the district’s website along with the rest of Monday’s agenda materials.
Before hearing the presentation from Tess, the board heard around 30 minutes of public input regarding the recent decision to open the year making masks optional for students, much of that came from concerned parents or grandparents who would like to see the district require masks. One student, a sophomore at Wausau West, did thank the board for making masks optional adding he often came home with headaches from wearing them all day during in-person classes last year.
Board members also discussed the proposal for two new indoor athletic facilities at each high school, an idea that remains in its very infancy. Leaders at both East and West will continue working with Superintendent Keith Hilts on the proposal including how to raise funds for the proposal without a referendum and what sort of long-term maintenance costs could be associated with them. That information will likely be presented at a later meeting.
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