The questions are not unusual in the present day: Should a school district be given permission to spend more money than routinely allowed by state statute in order to build or replace facilities? Wisconsin limits how much a school district can raise through state general aid and property tax for the General, Non-Referendum Debt and Capital Expansion Funds. In the Sheboygan Area District, this amounts to an allowable levy of $25,890,738 for the 2023-24 school year. The SASD will ask the community to invest $121 million by supporting a referendum to rebuild and remodel Urban and Farnsworth Middle Schools, which are approaching 100 years old. If a majority of voters support the referendum, the property tax millrate would increase by 20 cents, and still remain below the 2022-23 level. According to the SASD, this would represent an annual tax increase of $20 for every $100,000 of a home’s value.
A survey conducted in May garnered over 3,300 responses, with a majority of all key subgroups supporting the pursuit of a referendum to address the middle school challenges. The most notable change is the decision to move the Urban Middle School project back to the existing school campus, rather than building at Mill and Najact Roads. That change will reduce the referendum’s request $5 million less than the initially proposed. Sheboygan Area School District Voters will vote “Yay” or “Nay” on Tuesday, November 5th.
Comments