By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
The first phase of bidding on the East Troy School District’s referendum projects wrapped up in October, and pending a final review, the bids were about $800,000 less than the allocated $7.5 million for the additions and renovations at the high school, School Board President Ted Zess said Monday.
The savings allowed the School Board to approve about $200,000 alternatives within the scope of the high school project and still save about $600,000 in contingency for the upcoming elementary school work.
Zess where exactly that $600,000 will be used depends on what the bids look like for the new elementary school.
“The big variable is the elementary school bids,” he said. “We still need more money to outfit the STEM lab at the high school. We have $1 million in the referendum for fixtures, furniture and equipment, but that’s nowhere near enough for the tech lab area. We’re hoping to find more money for that with savings during the project.”
Zess said the plans for the new elementary school, which will be built on the Prairie View Elementary School site, are almost complete with just some minor decisions still to be made.
“We’re down to the nitty gritty on things like floor surfaces, cabinetry, doors and stuff like that,” Zess said. “The plans for the elementary school should be finalized by mid to late January and go out to bid in February.”
Zess said the plans for the new elementary school are “slightly larger than the original plans” and there had been no cutbacks made to the scope of the project so far.
“Depending on what the bids come in at, we may have to, but we don’t know that and based on our experience with the high school, we’re hoping we’re bidding at a good time for the new school,” he said.
The other projects included in the referendum are:
- Minor renovations for district administration and alternative education to be relocated to Doubek Elementary School;
- Transportation and site improvements at Prairie View;
- Upgrades to make the middle school more energy efficient; and
- District-wide furniture, fixture and equipment upgrades.
Because of the School District’s good financial standing, even with the passage of the $22.5 million referendum question and the $2.2 million referendum question for new district facilities, this year’s tax levy for the district will decrease by an average of 2.03 percent.
School District Business Manager Kathy Zwirgzdas stated in a press release that revenue limit freezes bring no additional monies to the district this year and the decrease in taxpayer burden comes primarily because of an increase in aid from the state.
The regular portion of the school budget, which makes up about 85 percent of the levy, received a big boost from that aid, Zwirgzdas stated, which in turn allowed a reduction in property taxes. This offsets the increase in property taxes from the referendum and added additional savings towards property taxes on top of that.
Originally, the referendum portion of the tax levy was projected to cost taxpayers 16 cents for every $1,000 of home value. That rate dropped to 5 cents per $1,000 after locking in a majority of the bonds.
“It’s definitely a welcome relief for taxpayers in East Troy,” Zwirgzdas said. “The benefits will be felt both at home in people’s personal pocketbooks, and the passage of the referendum will, of course, greatly improve the facilities in which the children will be educated.”
And while the referendum projects are doing well, Zwirgzdas did caution that the district is facing an operational shortfall that will have to be addressed at some point in the near future.
“We still however, struggle with no additional monies year after year from the state for regular operational costs,” Zwirgzdas said.
