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Fund balance can only be created if that fund’s revenues are greater than its expenditures. It's important to note that fund balance is not cash, but rather an indicator of financial wellness. It is recommended that a school district should have a fund balance totalling 25% of all expenditures for the year. The impact of a declining fund balance is:
- Higher interest rates on short-term cash borrowing (with a possible denial if fund balance gets too low)
- Declining bond rating for future capital referendums
- Less student programming with potential layoffs
- The State of Wisconsin (DPI) will take over control of the school district if there is no fund balance.
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| A failed referendum would require a reduction of 10-15% of our staff (which equates to 14 to 20 positions). This would lead to increased class sizes and loss of programming. Services would also be reduced and current fees would increase. |
- Reduce staff. We have approximately 134 staff members (teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, administrators, office staff, and bus and van drivers. The areas for reduction will depend on student needs, staff attrition, class size limits, student course registrations and ability to provide services and meet state requirements. We estimate these reductions will amount to 14-20 staff positions, or 10-15% of our staff.
- Reduce services. Busing is one example of this. We currently bus from ½ mile and further from our schools. State statute requires busing students who live 2 miles or more from schools. We would look at reducing the number of students receiving busing services.
- Increase costs for services. We contract for our food service program. Cost changes may include increased breakfast and lunch prices, athletic fees, and other areas.
According the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's site on Comparative Cost Per Member, Belleville ranks 338th out of the 420 districts (or in the bottom 20%) on the DPI spreadsheet (single-year all-district comparative cost summary data files from the audited 22-23 Annual Report data). Similarly, Belleville ranks 17th out of 22 schools in Dane County and the Capitol Conference in per-pupil spending. Belleville also falls well below the state average of $12,929 spending per student, at $11,806.
Recurring:
There is an amount of dollars added each year to the School Tax Levy, with no defined end.
Benefit:
Non-Recurring:
There is an amount of dollars added, on a temporary basis, to the School Tax Levy with a specified number of years.
Benefit:
- Impact of biennial budget
- Future inflation
- Future needs
Assessed vs. Equalized Value
Assessed Value: This is the dollar value placed on a parcel of property by the Village Assessor. It is computed by analyzing individual sale transactions, inspections, and a thorough study of all Belleville neighborhoods. It is the assessor's estimate of market value. It is important for maintaining equity between and among all taxpayers in the Village.
Equalized Value: This is calculated by dividing the property's total assessed value by the average assessment ratio. This ratio is applied to all property, including personal property, regardless of type or location of the property. In theory, this should approximate the current market value of the property. This value estimate is determined by the Department of Revenue (DOR). It is used to apportion tax levies among municipalities and is used in the distribution of shared revenues.
Note: Higher assessments do not automatically mean higher property taxes (taxes could go up, go down, or stay the same). The key is the rate of increase in a property's assessment relative to other properties. For example: If total assessed values in a community rises 10% but the total tax levy remains unchanged, a property value that increases greater than 10% will mean a tax increase, while a property value that increases less than 10% will mean a tax reduction.
What Factors would cause property taxes to increase without a change in Assessed Value?
There are a few factors that can cause your tax to go up without a change to your Assessed Value:
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A Taxing Entity has an increase to their budget
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Equalized Value increases for the Municipalities
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Looking at all of the Taxing Entities you may run into a School Referendum that can cause an increase as well.
The School District of Belleville saw an increase in equalized value of 7.57% over the whole District. , therefore the Municipalities that have a higher Equalized Value percentage pays a higher portion of the school’s levy.
This is how the increase was broken over each municipality:
Historical Mill Rate and Tax Levy:
| DPI requires school districts to use various funds. Fund 10 is the District’s general fund while Fund 39 is the Capital Referendum Debt Fund. Dollars levied to prepay debt go into Fund 39, and per Wisconsin State Statute, can not be transferred to Fund 10 to address any financial needs. Prepaying debt is planned out with financial advisors and is based not only on interest savings, but the need for future capital projects within the district. Population studies by the Village of Belleville, local realtors, and the UW Applied Population Laboratory, all anticipate growth in the next decade. |
Prior Prepayment debt has saved the District over $1,000,000 in interest payments. These dollars were approved by the taxpayers for the capital projects only. By state statutes, these funds may not be used to pay for operational expenses in the District’s general fund (Fund 10).
Beginning in 2009, the maximum amount of revenue that may be raised through state general aid and property tax allowed for Wisconsin school districts stopped keeping pace with inflation. Expenses have continued to follow inflation, which has created 15 years of under-funding. Additionally, special education costs are reimbursed to Wisconsin schools at a rate of 31 cents on the dollar.
- The School District of Belleville saw an increase in total salaries from 2022-24 of almost $760,000. A large portion (approximately $500,000) came in the 2022-23 fiscal year through the passing of the referendum.
- The School District of Belleville received notice in 2022-23, 2023-24, and in 2024-25 that the health insurance plan renewal would increase by approximately 15% each year respectively. These increases totaled $475,248. Additionally, over the same time period, the District’s property insurance increased by nearly $65,000.
- HVAC controls were replaced and upgraded for $400,000. This was supposed to occur in 2022-23, but because of supply chain issues, this money from 2022-23 was earmarked in the general fund balance and then spent in 2023-24. This project has been completed.
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| The School District of Belleville received a total of $603,942 in ESSER III funds. All districts were required to spend at least 20% of these funds on Evidence-Based Improvement Strategies (EBIS) for addressing learning loss. The District spent 62% of these funds on EBIS, which included 2 Elementary School teachers, 2 Elementary School interventionists, and half of 1 High School teacher salaries and benefits. All but 1 of these positions existed before ESSER III funds became available. Once the ESSER III funds were exhausted, all of these positions returned to being paid out of the District’s General Fund (Fund 10). The remaining 38% of ESSER II funds paid for replacing the High School chiller and network servers. |
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