Shawano school tax levy approved

A $12.97 million tax levy passed without debate Monday night during a special annual meeting of the Shawano School District. About 50 people voted unanimously to set the levy $41,434 higher than the 2013 levy. The levy will cover about 36 percent of the school’s overall budget. State aid will cover 51 percent of the budget, with the remainder coming from local fees, open enrollment, federal grants and other state sources. Taxpayers can expect to pay $10.34 per $1,000 of equalized valuation if property values within the district remain the same. The tax rate was $10.31 per $1,000 in 2013. The owner of a home valued at $100,000 who paid $1,031 in school taxes last year will pay $1,034 this year. District business manager Louise Fischer said she received some preliminary estimates from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue that county property values will drop 1 percent. Statewide property values are expected to increase 2 percent. Communities within the Shawano School District are showing some fluctuations, she said, with city of Shawano property values estimated to drop 3 percent while the towns of Belle Plaine and Wescott are estimated to grow 3 percent. “Normally, when the value increases, the tax rate decreases,” Fischer said. The district will be levying about $600,000 less than the maximum allowed by the state. Fischer estimated state aid would be 5 percent higher than what the district received in the 2013-14 school year. However, that amount could change once official enrollment counts, taken statewide on the third Friday in September, are officially certified in mid-October, about the same time the property values are publicly released. “Right now, we’re estimating state aid at about $13.4 million,” Fischer said. The district’s budget, which is slated to be approved by the School Board at the end of October, includes a number of proposed projects, including a districtwide server upgrade, making the middle and high school exterior doors keyless entry to improve security, a study of the middle school’s HVAC system, and a study of asphalt conditions at all district parking lots. The server upgrades are estimated to cost $287,000. The money will come from the district’s fund balance. Another $10,000 will go to the HVAC study, $3,000 to the asphalt study and $50,000 for the keyless entry project.