$18 million Boyceville school district referendum would have 0 impact on debt service tax levy
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — Although it is a large sum of money, if the $18 million Boyceville school referendum passes April 2, it will have zero impact on the debt service property tax levy that taxpayers are already paying.
Adding $18 million to the school district’s debt service will have no impact on the debt service levy, said Nick Kaiser, Boyceville district administrator, at the March 6 meeting of the Wheeler Village Board.
“It’s a big number, but we have a lot we are trying to get done,” said Kaiser, who has worked in the Boyceville school district for 17 years, 12 years as the principal at Tiffany Creek Elementary and five years as superintendent.
The current mill rate is $6.46, and the debt service portion of the mill rate is $2.71, he said.
The mill rate is the amount of tax levy that school district property owners pay per $1,000 of property value.
If the referendum question passes, then the new debt will be “layered in” so that there is “debt going off and debt coming back on,” Kaiser said.
According to information provided at the Boyceville school district’s annual meeting October 11, 2023, the school district’s debt was refinanced in 2017.
Refinancing debt for school districts, and for municipalities, is often used to help keep the mill rate even so that taxpayers do not see a decrease for one year or several years and then a spike in the mill rate the following year. When some debt is paid off but other debt remains, that can cause fluctuations in the mill rate.
In December of 2027, the Boyceville school district will pay off about $6.5 million in debt, according to information presented at the annual meeting, so that if the referendum passes, as Kaiser said, the new debt will “layer in” for 2028.
Tiffany Creek
So what will $18 million buy for the taxpayers in the Boyceville school district?
The Tiffany Creek Elementary roof needs to be replaced and is original to the building, Kaiser said.
The HVAC system, which includes the boilers and the water heater, must be replaced as well, and the elementary school must have a security upgrade, he said.
The security upgrade will include moving the office so that it is not situated in the middle of the building, Kaiser said.
Right now, visitors are well into the building before they reach the office, he said.
The referendum construction project would remodel the building so that the office would be the entry point. Visitors will be “buzzed into” the entryway and then into the office before they are allowed to proceed into the rest of the building, Kaiser said.
Moving school offices to the perimeter of the building is a strategy used to isolate people who mean harm from accessing the rest of the building until law enforcement can arrive to handle the situation.
The referendum projects in the elementary school also will include energy efficiency measures to upgrade doors and windows, Kaiser said.
The Tribune Press Reporter e-mailed Kaiser for additional
information about the referendum after the Wheeler Village Board meeting.
The energy efficiency projects in the school district are expected to result in a savings of 20 percent or more on the school district’s annual utility budget, Kaiser said in his e-mailed reply.
Saving 20 percent would mean that for every $100 the school district spends on utilities, there would be a $20 savings, or a $200 savings for every $1,000 spent, or a $10,000 savings for every $50,000 spent on utilities.
In the elementary school gymnasium, the bleachers will be replaced, and the floor must also be replaced, Kaiser told the Wheeler Village Board.
The elementary school will have technology upgrades and new flooring throughout the building. The restrooms and kitchen facilities will be upgraded as well, and new student lockers will be installed, he said.
According to information available on the Boyceville school district’s website, the referendum projects at Tiffany Creek Elementary would cost $5.2 million.
High school/middle school
The referendum projects at Boyceville High School and Boyceville Middle School would include HVAC upgrades as well, although the project would not include air conditioning for the entire building, Kaiser said.
The only air conditioning in the building would be where there are electronics or computers. The temperatures must be kept cooler where there are computers and computer servers, he said.
As many people are probably aware, when computer systems become too hot, they can malfunction or quit working all together.
The high school and middle school also will have the office moved to the perimeter of the building for safety and security so that visitors must be buzzed into the entryway and then into the office, Kaiser said.
The high school and middle school will have lighting updates as well, and the gymnasium floor will be replaced, along with the scoreboards and the motors that raise and lower the baskets, he said.
Flooring will be replaced throughout the building. The plan is to replace the tiled flooring with poured concrete covered with epoxy, which is much easier and more efficient to maintain than the tiled flooring, Kaiser said.
The career and technical areas will be updated, which includes business education, technical education, the agriculture area and the shops, he said.
The wall would be taken out between the shops so that the classrooms will have more space, and the welding area will be updated, Kaiser said.
The venting area for the finishing room also must be updated as well as the dust collection unit, he said.
The science classrooms would be updated, which is the oldest part of the building and was built in 1961, Kaiser said.
The windows and doors would be upgraded as well, also resulting in more energy efficiency, and the restrooms and locker room areas along with student lockers would be upgraded, he said.
The referendum projects would include athletic upgrades, too, including bringing water to the baseball, softball and football fields, and resurfacing the track, Kaiser said.
The cost for the middle school and high school remodeling and upgrades is listed at $11.8 million on the school district’s website.
Bus garage
The bus garage portion of the referendum projects would include a new lift, shop update and new shelter tops, Kaiser said.
Lighting, heating and ventilation would be improved at the bus garage as well, he said.
The updates would include three new buses and a van for the school district, Kaiser said.
Because of the state-imposed revenue limits for school districts, along with decreases in state funding and increased operational costs, such as increases in insurance rates and utility rates, school districts often experience difficulties in replacing buses.
The cost for the bus garage is listed at $990,000.
Enrollment
One person at the Wheeler Village Board meeting asked about the Boyceville school district’s enrollment.
The enrollment in Boyceville has been increasing and decreasing over the last five years so that the result is the enrollment is steady or declining slightly, Kaiser said.
The average class size five years ago was 53, and now the average class size is 50, he said.
As families move into the district, the middle school and high school have been increasing in student enrollment, Kaiser said.
What if?
Another person at the Wheeler Village Board meeting asked what would happen if the referendum does not pass.
The roof will still leak because the roof leaks will not seal themselves up, Kaiser replied.
The boilers will still be old and will not be getting any younger, he said.
If the referendum does not pass, the referendum question would come back during the November election, Kaiser said.
The physical plant upgrades are the highest priority, which includes the roof replacements, the boilers and the HVAC, he said.
The high school and middle school building has been built onto 13 times over the years, Kaiser noted.
Old and older
The Boyceville school district website includes two videotaped interviews conducted with Kaiser and with Derrick Retz, the director of building and grounds.
The school district’s HVAC system was installed in 2,000, and the boilers are 35 to 40 years old, Retz said.
The school district currently spends $5,000 per year replacing light bulbs and paying to recycle those light bulbs, he said.
In addition to being more energy efficient, LED lights also last longer than other light bulbs.
The roofing on the school buildings is so old, it is out of warranty, Retz said.
The bleachers must be upgraded at the baseball, softball and football fields, he said.
If the referendum does not pass, the Boyceville school district will continue to pay money for “reactive maintenance” instead of performing “pro-active maintenance,” Retz said.
Other costs
For each year that goes by when construction projects are delayed, there is always an increase in the cost.
The Tribune Press Reporter asked Kaiser about any anticipated increase in cost if the referendum does not pass.
“If we had to come back in November and it passed, there would not be too much additional cost because we would do the bidding process in the late fall and winter,” Kaiser said.
If the referendum projects are delayed for several years, “estimated construction cost hikes are running between 10 and 20 percent,” he said.
In other words, if the construction projects were delayed for a year or two, taxpayers in the school district would pay an additional $1.8 million to $3.6 million for the same construction projects.
When asked what would happen if the referendum construction projects were delayed so that the cost would be increased, Kaiser replied, “We are committed to keep it with a zero impact for debt service if increased costs are incurred.”
If the construction projects were delayed a year or two, and the cost increased, the most likely way to keep a zero impact on the tax levy would be to eliminate some of the necessary upgrades.
Likewise, if the referendum question passes, and the bids come in higher than expected, the school district probably would scale back some of the projects to keep the tax levy impact at zero.
When asked about the timeline for the construction projects if the referendum question passes, Kaiser said the majority of the work would take place in the summer of 2025 and in 2026.
For more information about the Boyceville referendum, visit the Boyceville school district website.
Click on the link to the referendum information on the right-hand side of the front page.
The Boyceville school district held an informational meeting and walk-through at Tiffany Creek Elementary on March 19.
The school district held an informational meeting and a walk-through at Boyceville Middle and High School on March 7.
