Q&A

What is an operational referendum?

An operational referendum provides school districts additional, voter approved, tax levy authority. Referenda have become essential for schools to successfully operate since revenue caps were put into place in the mid 90s. At this time, 100 school districts in the state of Wisconsin depend on voter approved referendum support for at least 10% of their total operational budget.

Is Bangor currently operating with referendum support?

Bangor is currently operating under an operational referendum and has been doing so since 2007. The current referendum amount is $900,000 per year. The current referendum was approved in the spring of 2021 and is set to expire June 30, 2025.

What does the operational referendum fund?

After 18 years of operating with a referendum, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what the referendum supports. The District's total operational budget is roughly $11,000,000 per year. The loss of $900,000 in funding each year would mean larger class sizes, deferring maintenance, loss of opportunities for our students. Simply put, the high quality of education and opportunities provided for our students each year is dependent on the communities' continued support.

Didn't the community just pass a referendum?

Our last operational referendum was passed in the spring of 2021 and is set to expire in 2025. The community also passed a capital referendum in fall of 2022 with the sole purpose of adding onto and remodeling our three district buildings. The funds from the capital referendum can not be used for operational purposes. One way that the capitol improvements have helped the most is that they have taken care of years of deferred maintenance that will provide annual relief to the operational budget for many years. While the funds and purposes are separate, the District has continued to plan for both the operational and capital expenses maintaining our commitment to a stable to declining mill rate.

How will continuing to support an operational referendum affect my taxes?

As a district, we have worked hard for many years, through multiple Board changes, and changes to administration, to maintain a stable to declining mill rate (cost per $1,000 of property value) for the community. Through multiple referendums the mill rate has continued to show a steady decline. The mill rate is the part of the equation that the District can control. During that same time, people across the state and in the Bangor School District community have seen their property values climb. Depending on your municipality and how re-alignment of fair market value of properties is adjusted, tax impacts fluctuate throughout the district. In addition to home sale prices, new properties being built in the district each year come in to play and help distribute the levy over all of the property value in the district. It is important to note that a successful referendum does not set the mill rate, instead it provides the district additional levying authority and ultimately the School Board sets the levy each year. As an example of the Board's commitment to a stable mill rate, the District under levied for the 23-24 school year by $150,000. By doing this we maintained the mill rate and still were able to meet operational costs for the year.

How does the School Board and District insure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely?

The School District of Bangor has a long history of sound financial decision making that is a byproduct of ongoing planning for the future. While many school districts across the state used one time rescue dollars over the past few years to meet operational needs, Bangor used as much of the money as possible on one time purchases avoiding what much of the state has seen and referred to as a fiscal cliff. Looking ahead, planning for facility improvements when the timing was right to maintain the mill rate, and to avoid major expense in the future is just a small step in the stewardship of our community resources. The District has taken steps to control the ever rising costs of insurance, and has made purchases to improve the efficiency of our custodial staff so that they can cover the ground needed with our facility additions. It takes resources to provide a safe and functional educational experience for our students and our Board is focused on strategically prioritizing those resources at all times. Bangor Pride runs deep and drives our district to be the best that it can be each and every day.

What is the difference between a recurring and non-recuring referendum?

Since 2007, the School District has asked the community every three years for additional levy authority. Each time the community has said yes. This has created a scenario that every 3 years the district asks the same question for the same level of support to meet the needs of the district. While that number has slowly grown over time, the needs remain the same and the impact of an unsuccessful referendum becomes a larger and larger concern. This cycle is created by the approval of non-recurring referendums. This means that they are only in place for a designated period of time and each time the district asks for the same support.

This year, the District is asking for a recurring referendum. As you can see from the planning, there is no increase in the amount that we have been operating under and instead of 3 or 4 years, the recurring means that, if approved, this is the last time that the district will ask for this authority. The $900,000 authority will become part of the district's regular operational planning and would only return to the community to ask for additional resources if needed in the future. That means we can continue to plan for our stable to declining mill rate and if needed in the future, a future referendum question may only be for a small amount for specific needs that would be easier to define.

Resources

July 24 Board Meeting Referendum Discussion

July 24 Board Meeting Referendum Presentation

May 24 Board Discussion with Baird

May 24 Baird Presentation

March 24 Board Discussion on Open Enrollment

March 24 Open Enrollment Presentation

February 24 Board Discussion on Early Budget Projections

February 24 Early Budget Projection Presentation