School Board approves budget and no-increase mill rate

At a special meeting Oct. 28, the Hudson Board of Education officially approved the 2008-09 budget and set the school tax mill rate at $7.04 per $1,000 of property valuation. That is the same mill rate as last year.

A mill rate of $7.48 was tentatively set at the district’s mandated annual meeting on Sept. 9. That rate reflected what the district estimated would be a decreased amount of state aid based on increased property valuation of $190 million from a Tax Increment Financing district that was being added to the city tax rolls.

According to Superintendent Mary Bowen-Eggebraaten, that means the school tax bill on a $200,000 home will be $88 less than predicted at the annual meeting.

However, the district was only recently informed that state aid calculations based on the TIF revenue would not impact the budget until 2009-10.

The tax revenue from the former TIF district increases the value per member for the Hudson district. As a result, the district’s property valuation is above state averages, and formula used to calculate state aid to the district would likely decrease the amount received in 2009-10.

The city does make a onetime payment to the school district of $1,859,212 as tax relief for the increased property valuation. The School Board voted to apply half of that amount to the general fund for this year’s budget to be used for general operations.

The second half will be applied to the 2009-10 budget to cover general operations as well as state aid decreases and/or major repairs or replacement of capital assets.

Bowen-Eggebraaten said with the new biennial state budget approaching and with a budget deficit statewide, all state departments, including the Department of Public Instruction, may make cuts in state education aid.

“With this in mind, it just seems better to split the tax relief money with half to be used this year and half on next year’s budget,” she said.

The state aid to the Hudson district this year is $25,730,233. The tax levy for 2008-09 is $21,673,459. The 2008-09 budget is $73,074,913, which includes the food service, community education and school-age care, which are all self-sufficient programs that involve no tax dollars.

To review the 2008-09 budget, go to the district Web site, www.hudson.k12.wi.us, and click on Board of Education, go to board meeting and click on the Oct. 28 special meeting budget report.

Tim Erickson, the district’s financial services director, can be reached at (715) 377-3704.

Tags: education, hudson, school_board, budget