Gresham School District approves tax levy

Gresham School District homeowners can expect to see a little more taken out of their property taxes in the coming year as district residents in attendance voted Monday to approve over $1.9 million in tax levy funds.

The regular tax levy comes to $1,732,389, but there is also $175,000 in debt service to start paying back the $6.5 million borrowed to build the expansion on Gresham Community School, which is nearing the end of its second phase. Property owners will see their tax rate go from $13 to $13.99 per $1,000 of equalized valuation, which means the owner of a $100,000 home will see an additional $99 in local school taxes.

The total budget for the district comes to almost $4.4 million, but the district is seeing a drop in state aid, which comes to almost $1.6 million. It would have been more than that, but according to Superintendent Newell Haffner, the state took away $26,145 of that aid to apply to a charter school in Milwaukee.

“That’s $26,000 that we should have had come our way, but because of Milwaukee’s charter school program, we get that taken out of our budget right away, and it goes down there,” Haffner said.

The district also lost another $38,716 in state aid because its student population continues to drop. Haffner said the third Friday student count, taken in September, showed Gresham had 12 fewer students than last year — a large chunk in a school district whose student population hovers around 300 from kindergarten through high school.

In the last three years, the district has lost $269,410 in state aid, according to Haffner.

“That’s hard for a district our size to overcome,” he said. “Plus, when you shift $26,145 to Milwaukee and you also have to pay another $24,900 to private schools, we’ve lost roughly $320,455 to things that we don’t really control.”

The district will also be getting more money for its food service program, Haffner said. Like the neighboring school district in Shawano, Gresham received approval from the federal government to continue providing free meals to all students, regardless of family income status, through June 2021. Therefore it is getting an additional $170,671.

“That’s one of the things I’ve been most pleased about,” Haffner said. “That’ll help families who might be struggling a little bit.”

The budget, which is to be approved by the Gresham School Board later this year, is balanced, according to Haffner.

“We run a pretty tight ship here,” Haffner said.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com