Stratford board seeks referendum
The Stratford Board of Education on Monday voted unanimously at a special meeting to have school district administration draw up language for an operations referendum question on the Tuesday, Nov. 8, election ballot.
School board members said they planned to vote on scheduling a nonrecurring, four-year referendum at their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 17.
The school board now meets on the third Wednesday instead of the second Monday each month.
Dr. Nathan Lehman, Stratford schools superintendent, announced on Tuesday how a proposed operations referendum question would read: “Shall the School District of Stratford, Marathon County, Wisconsin, be authorized to exceed the revenue limit specified in Section 121.91, Wisconsin Statutes, by $190,000 for the 2022-23 school year; by an additional $480,000 for the 2023-24 school year; by an additional $875,000 for the 2024-25 school year and by an additional $1,390,000 for the 2025-26 school year.”
Should the operations referendum pass, Stratford School District would phase-in a $1.80 mil rate increase over four years in annual increments of 45 cents. This means the 2022 mil rate of $7.70 would increase 45 cents in the first year, 90 cents in the second year, $1.35 in the third year and $1.80 in the fourth year.
If the operations referendum passes, the tax mil rate would increase from $7.70 in 2022 to $8.15. The mil rate would be $8.60 in 2023, $9.05 in 2024 and $9.50 in 2025.
The average mil rate increase within the four years of the proposed nonrecurring referendum is $1.13. The average property tax increase for the owner of a $200,000 home within that four year period with an approved referendum would be $225.
Because the referendum is nonrecurring, all approved tax increases would end after four years. The school district would likely need to pursue another operational referendum after the four years lapse, but this would depend on a number of factors, including state school aid support and student enrollment.
Stratford Public Schools faces a major budget deficit as a result of declining enrollment.
In other news:
n The school board voted to accept the resignation of new middle school math teacher Todd McDonald and allow the school district to hire Fay Niemann to fill this position.
n School board members voted to allow the school district to hire Kassidy Landwehr as an elementary school paraprofessional and Crystal Bell as a middle school paraprofessional in special education.
