Abby schools drop tax levy for 2022-23

The Abbotsford School District Board of Education decided at its annual budget meeting that they would be lowering the mill rate for school district residents during the 2022-2023 school year.

The mill rate of $8.68 per $1,000 of equalized property value is a decrease of .08 percent from last year’s $9.72 per $1,000 of equalized value.

Under the budget, a home worth $100,000 would pay $868.14 over the course of the year in taxes to the district. That is over $100 less than residents of the district were required to pay in the 2021-22 budget. However, a recent upward trend in property value means taxpayers will be paying similar amounts to what they paid in 2021-22 on average.

The district lowered the mill rate to combat the 12 percent hike in equalized property value, the biggest such hike since the Village of Curtiss closed its TIF district during the 2016-17 budget cycle.

District Administrator Ryan Bargender said the district was able to pass savings onto the taxpayers because of a proactive approach to paying off the school’s debt.

“Through the referendum promotion, we predicted the tax levy to be at $9.60, a 12 cent reduction [from 2021-22],” Bargender said. “Property values are up 12 percent. So rather than keeping the mill rate relatively flat like we projected and people’s taxes still going up $100 per $100,000 home, we were able to lower the mill rate.”

Bargender said a home that was $100,000 in 2021 is now $112,000 and so keeping that mill rate down would help people deal with inflation and the rising cost of living.

“With all that’s going on in the economy, we didn’t want folks paying more than they did last year on their school tax,” Bargender said. “We lowered the mill rate by defeasing less so that folks should be paying about the same as they were last year.”

Despite defeasing less on district debt payments, Bargender said the district is in a good spot in terms of their debt because they have stayed ahead of schedule over the past couple of years.

Since 2009, the district has gone from having 667 students district wide to having 800 full time equivalent students this year. Having more students increases revenue from the state but also increases the need for space within the district. The FEMA building is slated to remedy some of the space constraints the district is facing.

Currently, the district is still waiting on FEMA funds to come through as they pay bills to contractors through money that has been saved up from past budgets for capital improvements. As a result, the district’s total expenditures were up 31 percent but Bargender said that was mostly FEMA related.

By defeasing money to debt services last year and this year, the district will be saving money in 2025 and 2026 on debt payments related to this year’s referendum as well as a 2016 refinanced loan from the 2009 addition.

n Gary Gunderson said a study by Marathon County showed that other boards were making more money than Abby board members per meeting. Gunderson made a motion to raise wages for school board members from $60 for regular board members and $65 for officers per meeting to $75 for regular board members and $80 for officers per meeting. The board also approved an increase in meal stipends for board members and staff members from $47 to $55.

n The board approved the addition of Pickles the therapy dog. Pickles has been on a trial run in the middle and high schools and has done really well with the students according to Middle and high school principal Melissa Pilgrim. Pickles is part Newfoundland and part Great Pyrenees and is a trained and certified therapy and emotional support animal.

n The board recognized members of Forward Bank for their generosity in donating time and money to improvement projects within the school district. Bargender presented them with a certificate after he nominated the company for the 2022 Wisconsin Association of School Boards Business Honor Roll.

“On behalf of the School District of Abbotsford, we are honored to acknowledge Forward Bank for their generous support in helping to prepare the children of our community to be tomorrow’s leaders,” Bargender said.

n The board renewed its co-op swimming and wrestling programs with Colby through the 2024-25 school year.

n Maintenance supervisor Mason Rachu and technology coordinator Glen Orsburn said they were having an issue with a server room that was overheating. The duo said they were working on a fix for the problem.