By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien School District adopted its 2021-22 tax levy and mill rate at its annual meeting on June 28. The levy was set at $17.7 million, down .01 percent from this year. The mill rate was set at $879.85 per $100,000 of property value, also slightly down from this year’s rate of $879.89.
Business Administrator Anthony Klein said those numbers are not set in stone. He said the district will not know the final numbers until after the state sets its rate of financial aid to school districts.
Klein set the budget assuming no change in what the district received this year. He said the budget also assumes no growth in property values to be conservative. If property values increase, as Klein said he expects will happen, the mill rate could decrease.
According to Klein, the mill rate is only partly attributable to the district. He said the mill rate attributed only to the district is $861.38. The remaining $18.47 per $100,000 of property value is what the state allocates for the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, which provides vouchers that allow qualifying students to attend St. Andrew Catholic Parish School.
Resident Andy Terpstra made a motion for the district to cut $3 million from the proposed budget and add that to the fund balance so that the district would not have to rely on a line of credit during the school year. The motion died due to a lack of a second.
Klein said the Delavan-Darien district, like many others in the state, needs to use short-term borrowing until the annual property tax settlement (this year in the amount of $5.5 million) is received in August. Klein said once that money is received, the borrowing will be paid off in full immediately.
Later in the meeting, a discussion was had about what to do with roughly 18 acres of land the district owns near Fest Park. The district purchased the property years ago in case it needed to build a new elementary school. That has not come to fruition, but District Administrator Jill Sorbie said district enrollment is rising.
Some discussion was had about getting the land appraised but no one made a motion to do so. Sorbie said the board should consider the future of that property because it does not make sense to pay for an appraisal if the board has no intention of selling the land.
