An easygoing annual meeting for the Shawano School District on Oct. 28 resulted in dual resolutions adopting a budget and tax levy for 2024-25.
Residents at the annual meeting, and then the school board in special meeting immediately thereafter, approved budgets and levies dependent on whether the Nov. 5 building referendum is passed by voters.
The $51.23 million proposal would address maintenance, efficiencies, repairs and updates at all four schools, as well as athletic facilities.
If the referendum is approved, the school district will move forward with a 2024-25 budget of $46,111,950, tax levy of $13,725,690 and a mill rate of $6.24 per $1,000 of equalized value.
If the referendum is unsuccessful, the budget will total $45,560,412, the tax levy will be $12,473,415 and the mill rate would be $5.67.
Bryan Kadlec, director of finance and business office manager for the district, said the board had to pass two resolutions because of the timing of the referendum. He said state law requires the levy and mill rate be set before the end of October, but with the referendum not going in front of voters until Nov. 5, the board needs to have both plans in place.
“Once we certify the election results, we can move forward with the appropriate paperwork,” he said.
A successful referendum will mean the tax levy will remain the same as 2023-24. A failed referendum will result in a tax levy decrease of 8.13%.
General fund revenues in 2024-25 will total $34.2 million, and expenses will total $34.7 million, leaving a budget shortfall of about $550,000.
“At the conclusion of 2023-24, we designated fund balance to cover about $530,000 of one-time expenses,” Kadlec said. “So, what we’re projecting at the conclusion of 2024-25 is that the unassigned fund balance just goes down by a little bit.”
The state-imposed revenue limit increased to about $26.7 million and includes a declining enrollment exemption.
“The other big piece of this is the private school voucher aid, which is over $1.6 million,” Kadlec said. “While it looks like our revenue limit went up by quite a bit, this $1.6. million does not touch the district. As soon as we receive it, it goes out immediately as an expense.”
The revenue limit is partly driven by a three-year average of the resident pupil count, which dropped from 2,202 last year to 2,190 this year.
The 2024-25 levy includes funds for existing debt service payments.
With this new levy and money already received for debt payments but not spent, the district intends to pay off all existing debt if the referendum fails. It will have then money freed up to make capital improvements that need to be done whether the referendum passes or not. Chief among those improvements is replacing the roof at Shawano Community Middle Schol, Kadlec said.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
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