Wausaukee Voters Say Yes To School Referendum

Wausaukee School District voters streaming to the polls Tuesday, Aug. 19 voted nearly two to one in favor of a referendum they know will raise their taxes, and hope will save their school. By unofficial tally Tuesday night, the vote was 1,234 in favor of the referendum and 674 opposed.

Not all municipalities in the district supported the referendum. Tally was: Town of Amberg: 196 yes, 109 no, Town of Athelstane: 101 yes, 155 no; Village of Wausaukee/Town of Middle Inlet: 206 yes, 32 no; Towns of Wagner and Porterfield: 197 yes, 100 no; Town of Silver Cliff: 92 yes, 113 no, and Town of Wausaukee, 442 yes, 165 no.

Meanwhile, the wheels that were placed in motion to dissolve the district after the last referendum failed continue to turn. A Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction news release dated Aug. 15 announced members named by State School Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster to District Boundary Appeals Board, and scheduled a series of public hearings in the district on the dissolution issue.

The first hearing is to be held in Wausaukee on Tuesday, Aug. 26 from 1 to 4 p.m. and from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The committee will tour school facilities the evening before the hearings. Additional hearings currently are scheduled for September, and there could be more in November, December and January. Goal is to reach a decision prior to Jan. 15 to either confirm or deny the Wausaukee School board’s resolution to dissolve the district.

Members of the boundary Appeal Board, in addition to Burmaster, are Deputy State Superintendent Tony Evers; Rick Eloranta, of Owen-Withee School District, CESA 10; Dennis Kavanaugh, Oshkosh Area School District, CESA 6; Mary Kathleen Maloney, Green Bay Area School District, CESA 7; Steve Pate, Portage Community School District, CESA 5; Patricia Silver, Riceland School District, CESA 3, and Therese Travia, South Milwaukee School District, CESA 1. Membership on the Boundary Appeals is to be balanced between large, medium and small school districts.

The second referendum failed on June 24, and on June 26 the board approved a resolution that would close the district effective July 31, 2009 if nothing changes.

Despite the outcome of Tuesday’s referendum, decision on whether or not Wausaukee School District has a future is up to the Boundary Appeals Board. Many district residents have expressed hope the strong support of the referendum will send a message that residents do not want their school district closed.

If the Boundary Appeals Board decides the district should be dissolved they will assign students and the property that supports them to neighboring school districts. School districts affected would then have a one-time chance without going to referendum to raise their tax levy sufficiently to cover added costs caused by the influx of new students.

With their school’s existence threatened, Wausaukee residents organized a “Save Our School” group that successfully petitioned the board for this third referendum and organized a strong informational campaign to support it.

Save Our Schools members expressed hope the referendum outcome will send a strong message to the Boundary Appeal Board that Wausaukee residents do not want the school district dissolved.

Wausaukee School District has a total of 5,550 residents, and student enrollment is slightly over 600. Like other rural school districts in recreational areas, Wausaukee has been financially strapped by declining student enrollment and rising assessed value of properties, which combined to create a sharp drop in state aid. But without referendum authorization the school board was unable to levy enough in taxes to meet expenses, many of them caused by state mandates.

Deficit spending for the last several years has totally depleted the district’s cash reserves and the deficit will be well over a quarter of a million dollars by the end of the current year. The 10-year increase authorized by the referendum is intended to correct the deficit situation and provide a long-term solution to the district’s financial woes.

It allows the district to levy $675,000 in property taxes over the state-established revenue limit for each of the next 10 years, provided the DPI Boundary Appeals Board decides not to dissolve the district.

If there is no change in district equalized values this means $102 additional taxes on a property assessed at $100,000. However, according to Administrator Jan Dooley, $675,000 is the amount the district has been paying each year on its building debt. That debt will be paid off in April of 2011, so at that time, if nothing else changes, property taxes for school purposes will go back down to their current level.

Two prior referendum attempts failed. The first, held Feb. 19, asked voters to allow the District to exceed state established levy limits by $1.25 million next year and $1 million each of the next three years. It was defeated, with 1,334 votes against and 394 in favor.

Subsequently the board approved numerous cost-cutting measures, including paring down the number of school employees, and the teaching staff agreed to a number of concessions, including a 2-year wage freeze and an employee contribution to health insurance costs.

Then on Tuesday, June 24 a referendum that would have allowed the board to levy taxes sufficient to support the budget they feel is necessary for satisfactory education of Wausaukee students for one year was rejected by a narrow 19-vote margin, with 544 votes in favor and 563 opposed.

It would have raised the levy by $575,000 next year, approximately 86 cents of equalized value. Official canvass placed the vote at 544 in favor of the referendum and 563 opposed.