NEILLSVILLE VOTERS FACE NEW REFERENDUM
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 -- 12:22 PM
The Neillsville school board approved a referendum last night, but it's much different than the one defeated back in 2006.Administrator John Gaier says the board will seek the ability to levy $300,000 more than their state-imposed revenue cap. The resolution would "sunset" after five years.
"We talked to the taxpayers and found out they believed that question was difficult to understand," Gaier says, "They also weren't real satisfied that it would go on forever. They would like to look at this periodically."
The district projects a $100,000 deficit next year, largely due to declining enrollments.
"We're seeing a steady decline of 30 to 40 kids. We'll see that, probably, for the next four years," Gaier notes, "Over the time I've been superintendent, if our enrollment stayed steady, this year alone, we would have access to $2.3-million more than we have access to."
If the district experiences average growth, tax rates would actually drop from $7.82 to $7.38 per thousand dollars of property even if the referendum passes.
The 5-year, $300,000 referendum will go to district voters on September 9.
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