Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Friday, March 14, 2008
‘Vote no’ group: Taxes are a hangup regarding school referendums
Citizens for Responsible Government of La Crosse County will not support the La Crosse School District’s April 1 building and operating referendums, a spokesman said Thursday.
“We are not against quality education, but we want it at an affordable cost to the taxpayer,” said Dick Petersen, who is chairman of the Vote No Committee.
“La Crosse needs to be competitive with its tax rate. Good schools attract people, but ask any Realtor — high taxes are a red flag.”
The group understands it costs more to run a school now than it did 20 years ago, Petersen said, but it questions why La Crosse School District taxes are higher than neighboring communities.
“That is a big hang-up for us,” he said.
Superintendent Jerry Kember said the school district and community’s commitment to small class sizes make its instructional spending higher than the state average.
“We believe it (small class sizes) makes a significant difference,” he said.
CRG opposes the $35 million building referendum because of its language, Petersen said, comparing it to “a federal pork barrel project.”
The $35 million building referendum would provide $20 million for safety and “urgent facility” needs, plus heating and air conditioning, at 14 district buildings. It also pays for a new $15 million North Side elementary school that would combine Franklin Elementary School and Roosevelt Elementary/Coulee Montessori Schools at the Franklin site.
If approved, the building referendum would add $63 to school property taxes on a $100,000 house.
“If you vote for one, you have to take the other two,” Petersen said.
The group would have preferred three separate questions that addressed building improvements, safety and the new school, he said. “Then the taxpayers can vote more accurately for what they prefer and don’t prefer.”
Kember said it would have been difficult to separate the questions because all the facility needs are linked.
“For example, without a new school, we would need significantly more money to maintain those two buildings (Franklin and Roosevelt),” Kember said. “The board is trying to add the highest priorities in all these areas, recognizing there’s not enough money to adequately address any one of them.”
The $4.17 million operating referendum that would allow the district to spend $1.27 million each year on technology and ongoing building repairs and maintenance, plus another $2.9 million on instruction and student programs beginning in the 2009-10 school year is “out of line” by CRG standards, Petersen said.
The measure would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an average of $91 annually in property taxes over five years. The current $3.52 million operating referendum that expires in the 2008-09 school year added an average of $99 on a $100,000 house, so the net result would be a $8 drop in taxes if approved.
“In the economics of business, you have to reduce expenses or you don’t stay in business,” Petersen said. “But in the public sector you just add taxes and get away with it.”
Coming Sunday
As La Crosse School District voters prepare to head to the polls April 1, the Tribune will take an in-depth look Sunday at the building and operating questions that will appear on the ballot. The story will look at why the referendums are — and are not — needed through the eyes of school officials, supporters and opposition groups. Details will be provided, building-by-building, on where tax dollars will be spent if the questions are approved.
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