School District Proposes 2.31% Levy Increase for 2013-'14 Budget

With state aid still decreasing and the city's loss of a lawsuit still nagging at its budget, the Wauwatosa School District is currently asking for a 2.31 percent increase in the schools' portion of the property tax levy for 2013-'14.

The preliminary budget will be presented to the School Board at its regular bi-weekly meeting at 7 p.m. Monday. The final budget and tax levy will be approved in the fall.

Considering the continuing challenges to budgeting for the upcoming school year, the District's proposed tax and spending plan is far leaner than last year's. For 2012-'13, the final approve levy increase was 6.1 percent.

For the coming year, the total property tax levy would rise to $46,353,409, up $1,047,587 over last. That's including prior year chargebacks of $1,059,901 as the School District finishes paying off its portion of money recovered by Wheaton Franciscan Health Care after it successfully sued Wauwatosa over taxes collected on property that the Supreme Court ruled should have been exempt.

Also, state aid is projected to fall again next year, by an estimated $560,584, down 2.39 percent from this year.

In the meantime, salaries are projected to rise by an average of about 2 percent. Employee compensation – salaries and benefits – makes up almost 80 percent of the entire $81,992,534 budget, supported by the school property tax, federal, state and other local sources.

In sum, the levy increase would cost the average Wauwatosa taxpayer, defined as the owner of a home assessed at $250,000, $56 more next year and a total of $2,461 as the school portion of the tax bill.