Randall referendum is Tuesday

School administrator says plan makes fiscal sense

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff Writer

After Randall School Administrator John Gendron spoke about the Oct. 13 operational referendum for close to a half hour at a recent Twin Lakes Village Board meeting, one resident in attendance got straight to the point.

VoteButtonFlag web      “I want to know what this means as a taxpayer,” said Linda Smith, adding that no one is going to want to support a tax increase.

As of now, the operational referendum would not raise taxes. Instead, the three-year, $460,000 per-year referendum would fill the gap left by declining enrollment and state aid so the district can maintain the status quo, explained Gendron.

“Funding for schools, funding for local governments is at an all-time low,” explained Gendron. “We’re fortunate to have a great school district.”

Randall isn’t alone among school districts that are struggling to find funds under Gov. Scott Walker’s biennial budget. Other school districts, with varying success, have opted to try for a referendum. Burlington Area School District officials recently mentioned it as a possibility for the future.

The good news for Randall voters is the operational referendum would likely not raise taxes. Gendron explained that, because of the state funding formula, the district is looking at dropping from levying $4.3 million to about $3.9 million – meaning, using equalized property rates, the tax levy for 2015-16 would drop.

As things stand, if the operational referendum were approved, the tax rate would likely remain at $6.61 per $1,000 of property value for the 2016-17 school year as well as this year, and then drop to $6.56 per $1,000 for the 2017-18 school year.

Gendron explained the numbers for the 2015-16 are firm, and that the district wants to levy for the $460,000 amount in order to maintain programs and staff.

He added that the district has already trimmed costs in terms of staff and benefits, and reducing teachers won’t work because there are only about three to four students less per grade.

That, Gendron explained, would take class sizes from about 21 or 22 students per class to more than 30 per class.

If the district doesn’t pursue the operational referendum, he added, the expenses would have to be made up through the fund balance – which would come down to a zero balance in the three years planned for the referendum.

Gendron did face a number of questions. Trustee Sharon Bower simply put it, “Basically, you’re asking the residents of the village to give you ($460,000)?”

Bower also asked if the district was minimizing its cost on transportation, since it owns and operates its own bus service. Gendron did say that the district had priced the possibility of a contract with a bus service – and that it would cost them an extra $125,000 a year.

Trustee Kevin Fitzgerald also cautioned Gendron to be careful on estimating that property values would increase by about 1 to 1.5 percent a year.

“We saw a 20 percent decrease,” Fitzgerald said of the village, when the real estate market bottomed out in 2008.

Gendron explained that the group’s financial advisor in the matter – Baird – had estimated that property values would go up 2.5 percent, and that the district was running with the lower number to be cautious.

He also assured everyone in attendance that Randall would continue to cut costs wherever possible, and the $460,000 a year was a maximum amount.

“We believe this is a plan that fiscally makes sense,” he said.

Voters in the district will have the final say Tuesday.


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