When Morgan resident Nichole Holzem opened her property tax bill earlier this month, the result was shocking. She remembers “practically choking” when she saw the school tax for the Gillett School District.
“Our taxes have gone down year after year,” she said. But not this time.
Her overall tax bill increased 33 percent from 2013, “which was just insane to us,” she said. The school tax was up a whopping 29 percent.
“This isn’t something we could have budgeted for,” she said.
Holzem and her husband own a home and 20 acres of farmland that they lease to neighbors. They’ve lived at the residence for seven years and have one school-aged child. Because of their work responsibilities, they applied for open enrollment for their child, who attends a school district other than Gillett.
According to Holzem, the jump in taxes made the family consider selling their home.
The tax levy was approved at the district’s annual meeting Oct. 24, where school officials proposed a $3.04 million tax levy, a 16 percent increase over 2013, to cover a reduction of nearly $350,000 in state aid.
Approximately 70 people attended the annual meeting, and five residents voted against the levy, although no one spoke publicly about the tax increase.
The tax rate was calculated at $11 per $1,000 of equalized value, up from $9.5 in 2013. Varying equalized value for municipalities meant the 16 percent tax levy increase was distributed differently for taxpayers in the district.
The school tax levied in the town of Green Valley in Shawano County increased 22 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to information provided by Janalee Jenerou, town clerk.
“It’s tough. Nobody wants to pay more taxes, that’s for sure,” Jenerou said.
Gillett deputy clerk/treasurer Beth Rank estimated the school tax levy increased 19 percent in the city.
School Superintendent Todd Carlson said the district is allowed to increase its levy from $2.610 million to $3.039 million, based on revenue limits set by the state. He said it is not a matter of overspending; the 2013-2014 budget fell within 1 percent of 2012-13.
Instead, a decrease in state aid and the reduction of equalized property value within the school district caused individual taxpayers to see increases on their bills, he said.
Carlson wrote a letter to municipal clerks to share with taxpayers that explains the basics of the school funding formula.
“As equalized property value decreases, there becomes less value to spread the distribution of taxes, and therefore, each property pays a bit more,” Carlson wrote in his letter. “Due to all these items happening at one time, it created a fairly large local tax increase this year.”
Carlson said he has received a few phone calls from residents.
Charlene Borghese, town clerk of Morgan, predicted she would hear complaints from residents when they paid their tax bills. The 2013-14 Gillett school tax levy is nearly $21,000 higher for Morgan residents, compared to 2012-13.
“I was pretty well astonished myself. It’s a pretty big amount of money for Gillett,” she said.
According to Carlson, taxpayers in the Gillett School District will not see this size increase year after year, because finances will stabilize. The district’s tax base is expected to expand due to economic growth. In addition, the district will be debt free in 2015.
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