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Holmen School District residents voted at the annual meeting Monday night to allow the school board to levy up to $13.2 million in local property taxes taxes, approximately 5.8 percent more than the current year, for a proposed $37.4 million 2008-09 operating budget.

This new budget reflects a 4.4 percent increase over the 2007-08 budget.

Despite the increase, other factors — such as property values going up — mean a projected tax rate of about $10.24 per $1,000 of a home’s market value, down from the current rate of $10.55. The owner of a $200,000 home would pay about $2,048 in school property taxes under the new rate.

According to Superintendent Dale Carlson, the district had to find $1.4 million in cuts or in non-recurring items from the budget. Carlson cited increased staff due to student enrollment, a new principal for Prairie View Elementary, curriculum materials, storm water utility mandates, transportation costs and utility increases as the basis of the increase in the budget.

The final amount of the tax levy will not be known and the final budget can’t be approved until October, when student enrollment numbers are in, the amount of state aid determined and the equalized value of all the municipalities established.

Director of Support Services Jay Clark said his tax levy projections assumed a 9 percent rise in the tax base, but some municipalities have since projected lesser increases, while the village of Holmen is predicting a higher increase. Clark has learned town of Onalaska officials project their tax base to increase 2 percent, the town of Holland 1 percent and the village of Holmen 10 percent. Clark now believes the total effect will be about 5 percent increase.

As part of his report, board Treasurer Chuck Olson discussed various indicators of financial health for the district. The district had a per-pupil cost of $8,749. (The most recent numbers available are from 2005-06). This is 1 percent greater than the Mississippi Valley Conference average of $8,666 and 2 percent lower than the state average of $8,898.

Another indicator that measures a community’s ability to fund education is the adjusted gross income per income tax return. As a district’s costs go up, its AGIPR should also go up in order to maintain a balance. If AGIPR goes down, a district’s operational costs would need to go down.

The Holmen district currently has an AGIPR of $47,145, 16 percent higher than the MVC comparable school districts and 4 percent greater than the state average. According to the annual report, the AGIPR indicates the community has a greater ability to meet the cost of educational programming than do other MVC communities.

A leading indicator of financial health is the fund balance as a percentage of total expenditures. While it is referred to as a fund balance, it is not a cash account; it represents a fund’s total assets minus its liabilities and measures financial stability.

The most recent available figures (2005-06) for Holmen show a fund balance of 19.1 percent. This is greater than the the 7-percent target the district established and greater than the MVC average of 16.7 percent and the state average of 14.5 percent.

Citizen Mike Banashak expressed concern that all the financial data and budget priorities were not being reflected in student academic achievement, as evidenced by recent ACT scores. “Dr. Carlson said it all relates to how the students are doing. Maybe it’s because I’m kind of competitive, but it bothers me that the other four districts have higher ACT scores. I thought there was a committee to address that?”

Carlson responded that the district is going to have to address that. He noted the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination scores show Holmen is above the state average and students taking a national standardized test called Measures of Academic Performance scored above the national mean.

School Board President Cheryl Hancock agreed with Carlson and said the school board has expectations for performance for students. She also said the ACT scores are not the only performance measure. “One issue I raised is when you compare ACT scores from one school district to another, it doesn’t reflect how many are actually going on to college. One district may not participate as much. The scores we pay attention to are the WKCE. We come up pretty good in those tests. We never want to be below the average.”

Citizen Francis Brown encouraged the board to watch additional expenses and to address the many extra-curricular activities and trips taken. “I have been opposed to out-of-state trips and some new things added to the curriculum and these world and national competitions. I don’t know that grade school kids need to be going to these places. All the costs go back to the parents.

“Sometimes you have to cut obsolete activities,” Brown continued. “The district needs to take the bull by the horns and cut when needed.”

Olson concluded by saying, “One reason we have been very fortunate is this board and previous boards have looked at bond ratings and have been fiscally responsible. Contrary to business budgets, school budgets are particularly challenging. In 2001, our bond rating was B2. Today it is A2.”

Hancock wanted to acknowledge Clark for his role. “The fiscal responsibility is due in large part to Jay Clark overseeing finances for us. We really do appreciate your leadership.”

Contact Jo Anne Killeen at joanne.killeen@lee.net or (608) 786-6816.