School tax rate drops 2.98 percent
For the second consecutive year, Weyauwega-Fremont School District taxpayers will see a drop in the district's tax rate.
When the school board met on Monday, Oct. 24, it approved 2011-12 expenditures of $9.38 million.
That budget compares to 2010-11 expenditures of $10.44 million and will be supported by a tax levy of $4.6 million, down from the 2010-11 levy of $4.74 million.
Taxpayers in the school district will see a decrease in the school district's mill rate from $7.91 per $1,000 of property value to a rate of $7.67 per $1,000 of property value - a decrease of 2.98 percent.
The tax bill that residents in the school district receive in December will also include the tax rates of the municipality in which they live (city, village or town), the county, state and Fox Valley Technical College.
W-F District Administrator Scott Bleck presented the budget during Monday's annual meeting, attended by a handful of people. The board then approved the 2011-12 budget during a special meeting, held immediately after the annual meeting adjourned.
Bleck said the district's equalized property value dropped $576,913 or 0.1 percent. In 2010-11, it was nearly $599.928 million. In 2011-12, it is $599.35 million.
"That number varies around the state," he said. "We were pleasantly surprised that the number did not drop as much as last year."
A year ago, the school district saw its overall valuation decrease 4.03 percent.
Equalized property value drives the amount of state aid and local revenue the school district receives, he said.
Student enrollment is also a factor as to how much aid a district receives, and like the majority of school districts in the state, W-F continues to see a decline in the number of students enrolled.
This year's third Friday of September count showed a total of 886 students in the district, a reduction of 41 from a year ago, Bleck said.
The district expects to receive $4.04 million in general state aid this school year, compared to $4.48 million a year ago.
Bleck said the amount of state aid the district receives has been in a downward trend.
The 2011-12 budget also includes the creation of Fund 41, which will be for the purpose of financing current and future capital expenditures related to buildings and sites.
The approved budget includes $40,000 in that fund.
During the annual meeting, the salaries for the school board members were also established.
Those salaries will remain the same for the 2011-12 school year at $3,000 for the president, $2,500 for both the clerk and the treasurer and $2,000 for other members. The amount for committee meetings attended will also remain the same at $60 per committee meeting.
There were few comments during the annual meeting.
Board member Sandy Smith thanked the district's teachers for how they handled themselves in what has been a difficult year. Board President Neal Loehrke echoed her comments.
And Robert Rieckmann noted that $40,000 was spent in 2010-11 on legal fees, down from the $109,000 the previous year and the nearly $164,500 in the 2008-09 school year.
"It definitely is a positive," he said. "It is one of the things I was always looking at."
When the school board met on Monday, Oct. 24, it approved 2011-12 expenditures of $9.38 million.
That budget compares to 2010-11 expenditures of $10.44 million and will be supported by a tax levy of $4.6 million, down from the 2010-11 levy of $4.74 million.
Taxpayers in the school district will see a decrease in the school district's mill rate from $7.91 per $1,000 of property value to a rate of $7.67 per $1,000 of property value - a decrease of 2.98 percent.
The tax bill that residents in the school district receive in December will also include the tax rates of the municipality in which they live (city, village or town), the county, state and Fox Valley Technical College.
W-F District Administrator Scott Bleck presented the budget during Monday's annual meeting, attended by a handful of people. The board then approved the 2011-12 budget during a special meeting, held immediately after the annual meeting adjourned.
Bleck said the district's equalized property value dropped $576,913 or 0.1 percent. In 2010-11, it was nearly $599.928 million. In 2011-12, it is $599.35 million.
"That number varies around the state," he said. "We were pleasantly surprised that the number did not drop as much as last year."
A year ago, the school district saw its overall valuation decrease 4.03 percent.
Equalized property value drives the amount of state aid and local revenue the school district receives, he said.
Student enrollment is also a factor as to how much aid a district receives, and like the majority of school districts in the state, W-F continues to see a decline in the number of students enrolled.
This year's third Friday of September count showed a total of 886 students in the district, a reduction of 41 from a year ago, Bleck said.
The district expects to receive $4.04 million in general state aid this school year, compared to $4.48 million a year ago.
Bleck said the amount of state aid the district receives has been in a downward trend.
The 2011-12 budget also includes the creation of Fund 41, which will be for the purpose of financing current and future capital expenditures related to buildings and sites.
The approved budget includes $40,000 in that fund.
During the annual meeting, the salaries for the school board members were also established.
Those salaries will remain the same for the 2011-12 school year at $3,000 for the president, $2,500 for both the clerk and the treasurer and $2,000 for other members. The amount for committee meetings attended will also remain the same at $60 per committee meeting.
There were few comments during the annual meeting.
Board member Sandy Smith thanked the district's teachers for how they handled themselves in what has been a difficult year. Board President Neal Loehrke echoed her comments.
And Robert Rieckmann noted that $40,000 was spent in 2010-11 on legal fees, down from the $109,000 the previous year and the nearly $164,500 in the 2008-09 school year.
"It definitely is a positive," he said. "It is one of the things I was always looking at."
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