School referendum survey review session draws small crowd
The Medford School district held a referendum community meeting on July 17.
The purpose of the meeting was to inform the public about the potential referendum and to get the public’s feedback before the school board officially decided whether to go to referendum July 22.
Here are highlights from the July 17 community referendum meeting: 71% of the referendum would be paid for with state dollars (was estimated at 70-75% at community meeting but became 71% after board meeting). People in Taylor County will pay state taxes whether Medford passes a referendum or not. If the referendum doesn’t pass, the state’s money will go to a district that votes yes.
With that being said, Taylor County residents would have to pay additional tax in order to take advantage of the 71% state aid. Early estimates for possible referendum totals were presented by Baird, the financial company assisting the school district. These numbers did not represent the district’s plan for the referendum; they were meant to give an early idea of what different referendum amounts would cost over a 20-year amortization period. Additionally, these costs were calculated using interest rates of 5-5.25%, which are higher than current rates. For reference, Rib Lake’s referendum rate was 4.58%.
A $15 million referendum would cost $34 annually for a property worth $100,000, $68 annually for a property worth $200,000, and $102 annually for a property worth $300,000.
A $20 million referendum would cost $43 annually for a property worth $100,000, $86 annually for a property worth $200,000 and $129 annually for a property worth $300,000.
A $30 million referendum would cost $63 annually for a property worth $100,000, $126 annually for a property worth $200,000, and $189 annually for a property worth $300,000.
In the 2023-2024 year, Medford’s mill rate of $5.87 per $1,000 was below the state average of $7.22 per $1,000. To see how the additional cost of a referendum would have affected Medford’s rate last year, divide the annual totals above by 100 and add the number to $5.87. For example, the $129 annual cost of a $20 million referendum for a $300,000 property would increase the $5.87 mill rate by $1.29, equaling a new rate of $7.16.
“I will tell you that running a referendum was probably not the first thing I wanted to do, but when somebody throws you a ball, you have to catch it,” stated Laura Lundy, new superintendent of the Medford district.
Lundy said school funding does not allow for large maintenance or building projects, adding that the Medford district is “a little over $3,000 behind per student of what [they] need to be by rising costs.”
To gauge the community’s level of support for referendum items, the Medford district conducted a survey measuring support for seven possible projects. Results from the survey, which was still open at the time of the meeting, were presented at the meeting. More than 900 individuals responded. A majority of people indicated that they were either very likely or somewhat likely to support every project. The most popular project was the tech ed space expansion and update. 67% of people reported they would be very likely to support this project.
Following the presentation, members of the community were asked to provide their thoughts about the referendum. Sue Emmerich spoke in favor of a referendum as a representative of the Medford Development Foundation. As part of her role with the Medford Development Foundation, she gives people tours to people who are considering moving to Medford. “The first thing they ask about is the school system,” Emmerich said. She then talked about how Aspirus will close its Medford birthing center October 1 due to an inability to find an OBGYN who will move to Medford, citing this “hit to the community” as evidence that the community needs to improve the school district in order to make Medford a more desirable place to live.
“I hear also out there people say how come you didn’t fix this list before. Who cares? We need to go forward. We live in world right now where everybody tries to blame somebody else for something. We don’t need blame right now. [I]f we want to grow, or if we even want to stay the same because right now as of today we are not the same we took a step backward, [people] need to come out, and they need to support this,” Emmerich concluded.
No members of the public in opposition of the referendum provided comments during the meeting.
