Advertisement The local tax levy is expected to be about $12,557,703, a 6 percent increase over last year’s budget. The tax rate will drop a tiny amount, to $7.63 from last year’s $7.64 per $1,000 of equalized valuation.
“We maintain well above average student achievement and below average cost to the taxpayer,” school board vice-president Mark Cassellius said.
The budget was approved after a public hearing in which no one asked to speak, and for that matter, no one from the general public attended.
The final budget numbers and final approval will come in late October after the official tax base is known, the student population is known and the amount of state aid is known. “We talk about a budget we know is incomplete because (the budget hearing) is set statutorily,” said Larry Dalton, the school district’s finance director .
Expansion of the local tax base, or not enough expansion, may call for some budget cuts down the line. Dalton guessed there would be a 6 percent increase in the local tax base, expecting that number to be extra conservative. He now believes he was not conservative enough. “The city treasurer says Onalaska’s equalized valuation will probably not be as high as 6 percent,” Dalton said.
If the tax base growth is below 6 percent, the district still hopes to have a balanced budget and to maintain Onalaska’s educational programs. The first thing to suffer will be defeasance. That is the process of paying off debts early, something the Onalaska schools have been trying to do to save some money and also be prepared to make a future referendum “window of opportunity.”
Another place officials will look to cut is in its $250,000 community service budget. That fund would finance building security improvements, public communication like cable broadcasts of board meetings, and some communication infrastructure.
The next step in Onalaska’s budget process is to finalize it in October when all the facts are known from student enrollment to the tax base to the amount of state aid.
School Superintendent John Burnett wants the public on notice that there probably will be another referendum request coming in about a year. The district is in the third year of five years of referendum-authorized spending over the state revenue limit.
“We will have to come back to them for another referendum in 2010-11 if something is not done about Wisconsin’s levy limits,” Burnett warned. He said that is just to continue the current level of programs.
Food contractor
Board members gave a one year extension to Reinhart Foods as the district’s prime food vendor.
Food service director Katie Wilson explained the deal provides automatic discounts when manufacturers give them to Reinhart. She said another advantage is low delivery costs because of the proximity with Reinhart.
Wilson said the contract will be put out for bid again next year.
People
The board approved hiring Haley Haus as a half-time math teacher at the middle school; Stacy Schaper as a first-grade teacher position at Irving Pertzsch Elementary; Jennifer Bergman as a half-time paraprofessional in the middle school multimedia lab; and Marie Allen as a half-time special education paraprofessional at Eagle Bluff Elementary.
Resignations included school psychologist Scott Moline and food service employees Carol Mills, Mary Kraemer and Juanita Haag.
Eagle Bluff Elementary teacher C. Sherry Hammond will retire.
Varsity cross country assistant coach Keach Abing resigned.
Those hired include Dean Picotte, freshman football assistant coach, and Bill Paris, seventh-grade football head coach.
BY THE NUMBERS
* Budget numbers will be tentative through October
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