Athens School Board addresses tax complaint

Town of Halsey resident Clayton Gore spoke at Monday’s Athens Board of Education meeting about his property tax bill increasing substantially after voters passed a four-year non-recurring operational referendum in the spring of 2023. Board member Kat Becker, who is also a town of Halsey resident, told Gore that the majority of his tax bill increase was because the town of reassessed its property for the first time in over 10 years.

“My property taxes also went up 100 percent, but the largest contributor to the property taxes going up was the town of Halsey’s reevaluation of property,” Becker said. “If we lived in the town of Johnson, then our taxes wouldn’t have gone up as much, or barely gone up, so that was something that a lot of us in Halsey experienced that was unique compared to the other townships. The school district had no way of knowing that it was going to happen. The other thing that happened, which I didn’t understand until I was on the school board, was that the state also did a reevaluation of property, resulting in a very large bump in how much our property was supposed to be. That was also independent of the school district referendum.”

Becker explained that taxes are based on each $1,000 in property value, but in Halsey, a property that was worth $200,000 is now worth $375,000, so the impact of the referendum was much greater. She also noted that the amount of property taxes for Northcentral Technical College also went up by a very high percentage.

“I would agree with you that it was a completely different experience in Halsey than what we expected, but I think it’s really important for you to understand your property tax bill,” she told Gore. “You probably did what I did, which is gasp when you saw what your property tax bill was, because I was only going to have to pay an extra $500.”

Superintendent Andrea Sheridan and school board clerk Jessica Frahm offered to sit down with Gore and explain the breakdown of his property tax bill with him. They will do the same for any other school district resident that makes the request, she said.

“I think it was the perfect storm, unfortunately, that all those things happened at the same time as the referendum,” Frahm said. “It was unfortunate for the town of Halsey. The school district superintendent had nothing to do with that. The school board had nothing to do with that. That was on a township and state level that we have no control over, so it was just unfortunate that it happened at the same time, and the school referendum gets the negative publicity for it.”

In a related matter, board president Angela Servi explained what the board’s Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee discussed at its meeting prior to Monday’s regular board meeting. The committee began meeting this school year at 4 p.m. on the third Monday of each month before the monthly board meeting at 5 p.m. to discuss planning for the district’s next capital or operations referendum, or both, in either the spring of 2026 or fall of 2026 elections.

“The main item of discussion tonight, which I think is timely, is the communication that may be needed going forward regarding the referendum and what people in the community are saying about it and what questions they are having,” Servi said. “We discussed how we should communicate answers to those questions, and we also discussed creating a question-and-answer sheet that would have common questions about the referendum, and help answer some of them. So, at the next Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee meeting in October, there will be a draft for the committee to look at and determine a communication plan going forward.”

Other business

■ Sheridan announced there will be a special board meeting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 15, in the Athens Middle/High School library for the district’s business partners to explore the possibility of conducting a school building operations feasibility study to help the district prepare for its next referendum.

■ District residents approved a proposed tax levy of $3.5 million for the 2025-26 school year. The board will adopt the actual tax levy at its meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 27, after the third Friday enrollment count and certification of state aid.

■ Wages for meeting attendance were approved at $175 each for board president Angela Servi and clerk Jessica Frahm, $125 for board treasurer Tom Ellenbecker Jr, $100 for board vice president Steve Janke and $85 each for board members Kat Becker, Tucker Diethelm and Cameron Diedrich.

■ The board approved a policy stating that the district’s fund balance shall not fall below18 percent of the budget.

■ The board accepted the 2024-25 seclusion and restraint report. School psychologist Samantha Boivin said six incidents, involving three children with disabilities, required student seclusion last year. Nine incidents of physical restraint, involving three children with disabilities, were also reported, with law enforcement called to deal with one incident.

■ The board approved the following hirings: Seth Coker as math league advisor, Alyssa Antoniewicz as quiz bowl advisor, Emily Triebold as high school musical assistant advisor, and Tony Schultz as middle school girls basketball coach. Dustin Dahlke resigned as middle school wrestling coach.

■ The board approved out-of-state travel for students to attend the FFA National Convention in Indiana from Oct. 29-Nov. 1.