Despite Referendum, Nicolet Still Facing $1.7 Million Shortfall Five Years Out

After slogging through a $15 million flood in July 2010 and surviving statewide reductions from the revenue limit, and passing a $10 million referendum, the will still be facing a $1.7 million shortfall in the fifth year of the referendum. 

After a plethora of and , voters passed a to exceed the revenue limit at Nicolet. Just a month later, , eliminating collective bargaining rights for public employees like teachers. Then, not a month later, the final blow: The state budget was approved, reducing district revenue limits and state aid by 5.5 percent, specifically for Nicolet by $874 per student.

The combination of these multiple blows to Nicolet will leave the district with a projected $1.7 million shortfall in the fifth year of the referendum, the 2015-16 school year, if no other action is taken. But Jeff Dellutri, director of business services, says Nicolet is not without a plan.

"What we're hoping is that the savings from these benefit adjustments and the bidding out of health insurance.... We're going to see this fall how that goes," he said. "We'll see what that can save us and then we'll make adjustments in the future. We'll definitely going to get through that fifth year, and hopefully beyond five years and balance it out further."

And while these projections are just that - projections - Dellutri says he feels confident about these numbers even with at least a month before the budget gets final approval.

"I think it should be pretty close," Dellutri said. "We have the benefit of being a high school-only district of knowing what eighth-graders are coming in there, whereas a K-12 district may have more uncertainty with more people moving in and out of the district when their kids are four and five years old. I think the numbers should be pretty close."

Tax rate and levy increasing

The district's $23.6 million 2011-12 budget is expected to get final approval at the October School Board meeting.

With this budget and the $10 million referendum, the district’s total tax levy will increase by 6.7 percent for 2011-12, from $16.2 million to $17.3 million.

The resulting tax rate would increase from $3.93 to $4.19 per $1,000 of equalized assessed value. For a house with a fair market value of $250,000, that would result in $1,047 in taxes for the school district on the tax bill, if projections hold true.

Dellutri made a point to remind everyone that while there is a 6.6 percent increase in the levy this year, there was a 4.2 percent decrease last year, the "largest decrease in all the metro Milwaukee area."

"It's really 2.02 percent higher than it was two years ago," Dellutri said. "It's not great to have these up-and-down roller coasters, but we're pretty stable over a time horizon here."

Where did the savings come from? Dellutri said it's a combination of items.

"It's down salary, benefits and operations. Facilities is the only thing we keep constant year-to-year," Dellutri said. "Really where the savings came from was the retirement of seven full-time teachers and two full-time classified staff positions."

Residents get chance to weigh in

While only about half a dozen residents attended the district's annual meeting Monday, some did ask questions prior to voting to approve the levy.

"You probably have a lot of things on the wish list. What on the wish list didn't get funded this year?" asked Dan Hess, a Glendale resident.

"We weren't really thinking best-case scenario," District Administrator Rick Monroe said. "What could we add, what could we increase, what weren't we able to fund... because we were lucky that with the decision-making and the support of the community we were able to maintain the status quo of our programming and services which is really what our main intent was."