Witt-Birn school board OKs 2021-22 budget

Wittenberg-Birnamwood Superintendent Garrett Rogowski updated the school board and residents about the 2021-22 school year budget at the district’s Aug. 23 annual meeting.

Rogowski introduced an estimated budget of $14,556,368 that was approved during the meeting.

“It will be officially set during our October meeting,” Rogowski said. “There are unknown changes that go into the budget shifting.”

Rogowski said adjustments are to be expected.

The school population is estimated to be at 1,073 for the 2021-22 school year, down from last year’s count of 1,087. Although he does not know what open enrollment will be for the school year, he did estimate it to be 130-140 students.

At the meeting, the board also discussed and approved the tax levy for the district. With the operations fund at $3,594,194, the debt services fund at $971,031 and the community services fund at $225,000, the school board and district residents approved a total of $4,790,225 for the tax levy.

The estimated mill rate for the school district is $8.32 per $1,000, down slightly from the mill rate of $8.34 per $1,000 during the 2020-21 school year. This means that someone who owns a home valued at $100,000 would pay $832 per year in school taxes.

“The number this year represents a small decrease from last year,” said Rogowski. “This is promising to taxpayers. It is below what was indicated in the referendum.”

He added this is a conservative estimate for district property value.

According to Rogowski, the Wisconsin state average for mill rates in 2020-2021 was $9.22. He also said the current mill rate ranked Wittenberg-Birnamwood in the bottom 35% in 2020-21.

When discussing the rate per student, Rogowski said that he was unsure, due to that not having been audited.

“That information will come out in the winter,” said Rogowski.

In the 2019-2020 school year, the total education cost per student in the Wittenberg-Birnamwood school district was $11,476 — which was more than $2,000 lower than the state average of $13,619. Wittenberg-Birnamwood was ranked 407 out of 421 school districts in Wisconsin for the 2019-2020 school year for the total education cost per student.

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com