Wausau School Board. MWC file photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau School Board has passed a proposed $120 million referendum question to go before voters this April.
According to District Finance Officer Bob Tess, the proposal would allow the District to restructure debt in a way that would drop the mill rate by 43 cents, meaning homeowners with a $150,000 property would see their taxes drop by $64.50 annually. Tess says that’s due to the way districts are allowed to structure their debt, and they are looking even further ahead as well.
“Preliminarily, we are building a financing plan that does allow taxes to go down now, and go down again in three years,” said Tess.
While many on the board saw the measure as a compromise that could check some of the items off the maintenance and improvement to-do list, not everyone felt the same way. Board member Ka Lo did not support the plan due to its lack of improvements to schools in minority and low-income neighborhoods, saying it’s not fair for those residents to be paying the same tax rate but not getting the same investment.
“I really wish this would have been more equal, across the board. But it’s not,” said Lo, noting that some schools didn’t have their to-do lists cut as much as others from one proposal to the next. “I do like the price tag of $119 million, but it’s not equal across all schools. That’s my problem. Someone in Wausau shouldn’t be paying the same but getting less than another parent living in another part of the district paying the same and getting more for their kids. I see a problem with that.”
Stettin, South Mountain, and Riverview Elementary schools are all getting additional classroom space with officials noting that they are seeing the biggest increases in enrollment. Riverview and Stettin are currently over capacity, while South Mountain is at 94%. All other schools are at 88% capacity or less.
Many agreed that more work needs to be done in those buildings including Lance Trollop, who said he feels it’s more important to get started on the work than put forward a measure that includes all the upgrades but may not pass the voters.
“It’s more an issue of timing, an issue of a strategic, long-term study, and the question of actually passing a referendum. I’d rather pass part of what we want than pass none of what we want,” said Trollop. “I know that there are people in the community and on the board that would like to do more with the elementary schools, some that would like to do less, and even some that would like to do nothing with the elementary schools at this time. But, I think we have reached a pretty good compromise here.”
Board member John Creisher added that he would like to see a deep dive into the footprint of the district’s elementary schools in the next few years. “That’s going to take this district and this community to take a real hard look [at] the footprint of our district and what consolidation means. It doesn’t have to be a scary, divisive thing pitting people against each other. It’s just an honest and open discussion that we need to have.”
Other board members noted that the plan makes significant improvements to the district’s four middle and high schools along with funding for new furniture and fixtures district-wide, lights for athletic fields at both high schools, and the installation of FieldTurf at both high schools. Those projects account for nearly $98 million out of the $119.8 million price tag. “This is primarily a plan for secondary schools,” added Trollop. “Upgrades to learning spaces, STEAM rooms, none of the schools are getting that. All they are getting [are] the secure entrances, safety [improvements,] and then the classroom space.”
“Eighty percent of this referendum goes to secondary, which benefits every single student in this district,” added Creisher.
Tess also noted that his team is working on a budgeting formula that could drop taxes again in the next three years, meaning at that time the board could revisit some of the items that were cut from the wish list.
April’s vote will be the third consecutive election in which Wausau voters have considered a building referendum for schools. Previous votes failed during the 2020 Presidental Election and 2021 non-partisan spring election. Though voters did approve a smaller, $4 million referendum for staffing during the last election.
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