By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Each year, Burlington Area School District School Board member Larry Anderson pulls numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to compare tax rates.
His purpose? To educate district residents on how Burlington’s school taxes compare with those of surrounding districts.
The comparison shows BASD has the second-lowest tax rate when compared to Wilmot, Union Grove, Waterford and Westosha Central – the four neighboring communities.
Burlington’s K-12 tax rate is $11.14 per $1,000 of property value. The only lower tax rate is for residents who live in the Westosha Central High School/Bristol K-8 school district, with $10.87.
However when compared against the other districts using a weighted averaged for union school districts, Burlington had the lowest overall rate.
Anderson broke down each district (with its grade school and high school districts combined in union districts) and then provided a weighted average, presumably based on the tax levy each individual grade-school district provides – to provide a general snapshot of taxes across entire union districts.
The weighted average (including all elementary schools) for Wilmot was $13.99, for Union Grove was $12.93, Waterford $12.74 and Westosha $11.94. Those districts have separate graded school districts and high school districts, whereas Burlington is a single district for schools at all levels.
“I don’t have a reason to question it,” said BASD Superintendent Peter Smet of Anderson’s comparison. “If your home was put in any of these neighboring districts, you’d be paying a considerably higher amount.”
Anderson worked out numbers for that as well, estimating what the district’s tax levy increase would be using the other district’s rates.
If using Wilmot’s, the district would be raising the levy by $5.8 million, $3.6 million if using Waterford’s, $3.2 million with Union Grove’s rate and $1.6 million with Westosha’s rate.
Smet said the district compares favorably, but in reality, it may not mean much to some.
“A person’s tax bill is their reality,” Smet said. “That’s what they pay now.”
When the School Board looked at financial statements Monday evening, a few other numbers were circulated by Wegner CPAs – the district’s accounting firm.
In 2009, the districted received $18.8 million in state aid and $3.9 in federal aid. This past year, the district received just $16.5 million in state aid and just $1.8 million in federal dollars – a drop of about $3.4 million.
However, in that same time, the district’s tax levy rose by $1.7 million – from $20.1 to $21.8 million.
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