District seeks to exceed revenue cap
By Ray Przekurat
Voters living in the Iola-Scandinavia School District will find a referendum on the Tuesday, Nov. 3, election ballot.
The Iola-Scandinavia School District is requesting authority to renew the right to exceed the revenue limit by $1,25 million in 2021-22 and 2022-23; $1.4 million in 2023-24 and 2024-25; and $1.5 million in 2025-26.
The five-year nonrecurring operating referendum that district voters approved in 2016 is about to expire.
The district is asking for what is needed to keep schools running as they are now. Like in 2016, we are asking permission from voters to exceed the state-imposed revenue limit with another five-year nonrecurring operating referendum.
If voters approve the referendum, property owners would pay an additional $80 per $100,000 of property value over the five years of the referendum. This is a monthly impact of $1.34 on a property value of $100,000.
With our local referendum, 100% of the tax impact remains in the district. Income and sales taxes are paid into the state of Wisconsin and returned to school districts through equalization aid.
Iola-Scandinavia only receives about 45 cents of every dollar paid in state income tax.
This referendum provides a local solution so Iola-Scandinavia taxpayers solely support Iola-Scandinavia schools.
The district has a lot of expenses that increase due to inflation and other factors beyond our control. Funds from an operating referendum can only be used for operating expenses; they are not used to incur debt.
The referendum question asks voters to grant revenue limit authority to the Board of Education, but that does not mean the board is required to exercise that full authority. In fact, Iola-Scandinavia has “underlevied” several times since the first operating referendum was passed.
In 2018-19 the district underlevied by $100,000; in 2019-20 by $72,715; and in 2020-21 by $775,000.
Our commitment to the taxpayer is to only levy the amount needed.
• Ray Przekurat is the district administrator for the Iola-Scandinavia School District. He can be reached at [email protected] or 715-445-2411 ext. 1401.