School aid loss hits Chippewa Falls taxpayers: Chippewa Falls district to see 11.5 percent tax rate increase

CHIPPEWA FALLS -- The Chippewa Falls school district will use $1.3 million in reserves this year to avoid a large jump in the property tax levy.

The school board voted unanimously Monday to approve the $52 million budget, which includes a levy -- the amount of money collected from taxpayers -- increase of about 10 percent.

The tax rate will jump 11.5 percent, from $7.56 of $1,000 of equalized valuation to $8.43. For the owner of a $150,000 house, that will mean an additional $130.50 in school district taxes. Public schools make up a portion of the property tax bill, which also includes city, county, technical college and state forestry taxes.

The main reason for the tax hike is a $1.54 million drop in state aid, from $30.05 million last school year to $28.5 million this year.

Entering the meeting, the proposed budget called for a 17 percent levy increase, and board members agreed that was too much. So the board voted to use its fund balances for this year and immediately begin looking at cuts for next year that would help the district avoid again using reserves. The district has a fund reserve balance of $7.6 million, said Chad Trowbridge, the district's business manager.

Board member Jerry Smith expressed disappointment in the original proposed spending increase.

"I have a very difficult time with what we're looking at tonight," Smith said of the 17 percent increase to the levy.

Smith said the district will have to look at making $1.5 million in cuts in the next year to drive down the tax rate.

"We had time to make changes," Smith said. "Maybe we should have paid more attention. I can't vote for that type of increase in taxes."

Smith said one thing that bothered him about the budget is that 61 percent of the increase comes from a jump in health insurance costs. He expected the levy to jump 6 to 7 percent this year, not the proposed 17 percent.

"I was fully prepared to live with that," Smith said. "My support depends on getting the levy below 10 percent."

The budget increases jumped in recent weeks as state aids were lower than expected, Smith said.

"To say we went through a minor adjustment would be an understatement," Smith said.

School board President Roberta Rasmus said with so much of the budget tied to salaries, she wasn't sure how the budget could be changed.

"At this point in the school year, I don't know what we would do," Rasmus said. "The difficulty is that when we talked about this in September, the numbers came in lower."

Superintendent Tom Hughes echoed Rasmus' comments, saying the district could try to delay some purchases or try to use some fund balances, but there is little else that can be done this year.

"Give us that (budget reduction) number, and we'll work with that number," Hughes said.

Dennis Sykora, who joined the board this year, was stunned by the proposed increase.

"When I opened up this book (last week), it kind of shocked me," he said.

Chippewa Falls resident Marsha Wiley spoke against the proposed 17 percent increase, saying she is on a fixed income. She also mentioned the economic problems facing many area residents.

"That's way too much at one time," Wiley told the board. "It is making it harder and harder for people to stay in their own homes and pay property taxes."

Business manager Trowbridge said the district collects $20.09 million in local funds.

"This is the final year of debt levy for the school district," Trowbridge said.

One of the problems was a decrease in equalized value, which fell 1.34 percent, the first time Trowbridge has seen it decline.

"Our tax rates have been below the state average," he said. "Tax rates will rise statewide -- I don't think that will be unique to Chippewa Falls."

The board also approved a short-term $5 million loan to help provide cash during the school year before state funds arrive. Trowbridge said state aids arrive quarterly. The 1.5 percent interest paid on the loan will be $41,958.