Will the district hold a referendum?

As the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District’s debt payments start to wind down, a financial representative presented an opportunity to upgrade facilities while keeping taxes flat at this month’s School Board meeting.

The district, Baird Managing Director Lisa Voisin said, is slated to be debt free in four years. It has $3.48 million in debt with its last payment scheduled for April 1, 2023.

“That’s not too far away and that’s why we’re talking about this right now. You’re going to be debt free,” she said.

“Do you want your taxes to drop that significantly or do you want to think about filling that in with a new loan or new borrowing to kind of keep it flat?”

The magic number is $15 million.

“If you borrow $15 million and your first payment started where (debt) drops (off), your payments would be flat. There would be no increase in taxes for debt,” Voisin said.

It wouldn’t be a unique approach, she said.

“Districts across the state do this all the time. They plan for opportunities like this. They say, hey, what are some of the needs of our facilities?” Voisin said.

“It’s hard to pay for facility projects in your annual budget.”

The board, she said, has held the line on taxes the last few years, with its rate falling from $10.03 per $1,000 of equalized value in 2016 to $9.44 in 2019. Its rates are lower than the state average, she said.

The last referendum the district held didn’t carry a tax increase, she said. That was in 2010 for $6 million, most of which went to remodel the middle school.

That project came in $3.5 million under budget because the district locked in low interest rates. The rates on the district’s current debt range from 0.275% to 3.125%.

Before that, the district built its high school in 1997 for $10 million. Voisin said new high schools today cost tens of millions more.

The district has a bond rating of AA, the third-highest attainable, which allows for locking in low interest rates. While many economic factors are out of the School Board’s control, its fund balance, debt policies, board reporting practices and capital plan impact the rating, Voisin said.

“We don’t see a lot of AA districts your size,” she said.

Voisin told the board it may, according to a new state law, only hold a referendum on primary and general election days. Five years ago, she said, referendums could have been held on any day. She said she has seen them on Saturdays and Sundays.

The board has four chances to hold a referendum before its debt falls off. Odd years don’t have elections, but 2022 has primary and general elections scheduled for spring and fall.

Voisin recommends, however, staying away from the fall primary in August when people are on vacation.

“I love that I’m here tonight because you’ve got time to plan,” she said.

The next step, she said, is to bring in an architect, construction manager or survey company.

“Getting a team in place is so important for beginning because you want to have a facilities study done. You want to have your facilities reviewed from top to bottom and have a laundry list of what your needs are from an outside firm who is going to have a lot of experience with Wisconsin schools,” she said, adding those studies can take several months.

After that, Voisin recommends engaging the community and using successful strategies from the past.

“What worked for you last time? How did that process go when you were talking about upgrading your facilities last time?” she said.

Interim Supt. Claire Martin said the next step is for the administration to put out a request for proposals for companies to do a comprehensive review of the district’s facilities.

“I am glad the board is at this point and utilizing this time to discuss this and plan,” she said.

She said she already asked the district technology director to create a list of hardware and infrastructure needs.

“The board will have a lot of information to go on — how they want to use $15 million and where that money will be best spent,” Martin said.