Colby School District looking at 23% tax levy hike

Residents of the Colby School District may see an increase in their property taxes after the school board approved a proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year and a corresponding tax levy at its budget hearing and annual meeting on Monday.

Though some figures in the budget will need to be finalized following information provided by the state in October, there will likely be a significant increase in the property tax levy.

While last year saw an initial tax levy decrease of roughly 14.3 percent, the actual unaudited levy increased by roughly 12.6 percent, going from $3.6 million in the 202324 budget to $4million in the 2024-25 final unaudited budget. An even larger potential hike was approved on Monday, with the proposed property tax levy reaching nearly $5 million with a mill rate of $7.11 per thousand, a roughly 23.6 percent increase.

The levy’s contributions to the district’s general fund and the referendum debt service fund both rose, leading to the overall increase. An increase from $2.4 million for the general fund in the 2024-25 budget to $2.7 million in the 2025-26 budget, and an increase from $1.3 million for debt payments in 2024-25 to $1.9 million for 2025-26 largely accounted for the difference.

Due to the recent passing a referendum in the fall of 2024, the expenditures for the Fund 39 Debt Service increased from roughly $700,000 for the 2024 25 school year to an estimated $1.8 million for 2025-26. This $1.8 million figure should remain relatively steady over the next five years. The overall proposed revenues and expenditures for the general fund will remain about the same as last year, coming in around the $15.5 million mark. Total budgeted expenditures for the district will go from $23.5 million in 2024-25 to $24.8 million for 2025-26.

Should the numbers hold, this would be the third straight year that district residents have seen a property tax increase.

A $5 million proposed levy would be roughly a 72 percent increase from when the tax levy was $2.9 million a decade ago in 2015. However, the equalized value of the property in the district has more than doubled in that time, going from $321 million in 2015 to what is an estimated $701 million in 2025. Equalized value is utilized in the formula for calculating the property tax levy.

“Part of (the increase) is from the state of Wisconsin, which we don’t control with the referendum,” superintendent Patrick Galligan explained when it was noted by a member of the public that residents may not be happy to see the property taxes increase. “The property values go up when they get reevaluated, and those kinds of things are beyond the control of the district.”

“This is also partially from recommendations from Baird to help us try to make things consistent over the years so that we can work through this and we don’t have to have ups and downs for people’s taxes,” he added.

“As you know, the district for many years had the same levy, I believe it was $9.11 (for the mill rate), and then it’s been a little more fluctuated, but we are trying to be as consistent as we can,” he said. “But also, as part of the funding, we don’t want to lose out on funding for our students because with the state funding system the way it is, if we don’t increase, then we actually lose out on future years.”

During the discussion regarding the budget and proposed property tax levy, it was noted that while a 2023 partial veto from Gov. Tony Evers allows school districts to collect an additional $325 per student on an annual basis, where that money comes from is not always clear. A significant portion of the district’s general fund revenue, about 66 percent, comes from state sources, but there was no equivalent requirement for the state to fund the $325 per student annually, leaving districts to pull from local sources instead.

“We are allowed to move it up, but it’s going to come from our coffers rather than the state,” Galligan said. “We could lose out on additional funding in future years (if we don’t), so that is the trick.”

These figures stand to change and will be confirmed during the board’s October meeting.

Other business

■ The board approved a motion to discontinue the co-op between Colby and Abbotsford for the boys cross country team next year. The joint Colby/Abbotsford girls cross country programs split in 2020 and the Colby School Board initially approved a split between the boys in 2023 before reversing the decision and deciding to continue the co-op for two more years.

The decision will likely have the two separate Colby and Abbotsford teams competing in the WIAA Division 3 postseason competition, rather than the Division 2 races they have been a part of as a co-op in recent years.

■ The district’s seclusion and restraint report was approved by the board at Monday’s meeting. There were no reported incidents across the three schools over the past school year, something that Galligan attributed to the staff and Crisis Prevention Institute training provided by high school principal Steve Wozniak and elementary principal Matt Cihlar.

“I think our principals do a really good job. Matt Cihlar and Steve Wozniak teach our CPI classes and I believe that helps our staff,” Galligan said. “It’s an organized training that really focuses in on before you get into a situation where you would have to use a hold, you try to talk a student down and deescalate.”