Falls School District Tax Rate Dips Even Further

The news keeps getting better for the taxpayer in Menomonee Falls – at least on the school district portion of their bill.

The School Board on Monday finalized the budget after almost a year of preparation and tweaking. Although the community voted overwhelmingly to approve the budget in September, key pieces of information were still not finalized at that point.

The district certified the final budget after receiving student head counts, final state equalization aid figures, and equalized property tax values. The total tax levy actually increased $500,000 from bringing the total levy to $38.4 million, which is still 2 percent lower than 2010-11.

However, the total tax base was expected to shrink 2.5 percent, but it actually grew by 0.14 percent, which helped buffer the tax burden on district residents. As a result, the tax rate actually fell even further than anticipated at the annual meeting.

At the annual meeting, administrators proposed a tax rate of $11.07 per $1,000 of assessed value, but the finalized budget features a slightly lower tax rate of $11.05 per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s a decrease of 1 percent, or a $27.81 decrease in the tax bill for an owner of a $250,000 home as compared to last year.

Total revenue dipped 8.69 percent to $46.6 million dollars, which was driven by a nearly 10 percent decrease in state aid. from $10.85 million in 2010-11, to $9.7 million for the current year.

To match the decrease in funding, the and reduced overall general fund expenditures by 5.06 percent, from $44.2 million to $41.9 million.

The district will save $1.2 million by switching . The employee contribution toward retirement opened $1.3 million in savings as well. The district also expects to reduce its energy and gas usage by 38 percent.

By adding , the district will generate about $300,000 in additional revenue. It also stashed away $400,000 from the Federal Education Jobs Act fund to preserve jobs in the district.

The district also shed three administrative positions district wide, seven full-time equivalent (FTE) education assistants and 16 FTE in the teaching staff. Overall, salaries and wages payable fell $300,000 from $28.1 million to $27.8 million.

Administrators will go back to the drawing board in Novemeber, and start the process all over again for the 2012-13 school year.