Community forum draws a small crowd

Borrowing $18.2 million will keep the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District’s tax rate at its current level into the future, thanks to debt that will fall off in 2023, a combined in-person and online crowd of about 20 people were told Tuesday night at the first of two community forums.

That was one of the highlights of a presentation on school finance by Lisa Voisin, managing director of Robert W. Baird of Milwaukee.

While a nearly $20 million referendum would keep the tax rate flat, Voisin said, it’s not free.

“Is it going to cost you something? Yes, because your taxes would have dropped,” she said.

Without the borrowing, she said, taxes would drop $330 per year on a $200,000 home.

The district’s tax rate has been dropping in the past six years, from $10.30 per $1,000 of equalized value in 2015-16 to $8.60 in 2020-21.

“This is something to be proud of,” Voisin said.

In other good financial news, the Village of Belgium’s tax incremental finance district will close next year or in 2023, returning $47 million of land value to the district and the property taxes that come with it.

A presentation on the district’s facility study by Clinton Selle, senior associate with Bray Architects, hired by the district to do the study, showed options to improve the drop-off and pickup system at the elementary and middle schools. The auditorium may be addressed as well as athletic facilities.

Much of the work needed at the schools, Selle said, is in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning category, as well as some roof work.

After the presentations, a short tour at the middle school showed a couple of areas that could use some work.

The deterioration of the district’s 50-year-old pool has been referenced often by school officials in the past few years, and they agree now is the time to make a decision on its future.

Building and Grounds Director Ben Lukens showed that one pool problem is being used to limit damage from another. The pool’s infrastructure is crumbling and creating sand, which is bagged up to try to block water from a consistent leak.

Options include closing the pool, fixing it for about $2 million or building a new one for at least $10 million, the same cost to build the high school in 1997.

The middle school kitchen is also in need of upgrades, given some of its infrastructure is approaching antique status.

A preliminary budget analysis by Bray Architects has a baseline cost of $20 million to $23 million for a spring referendum, which doesn’t include a $10 million pool.

A community survey in fall, Selle said, will guide district leaders as they decide what to include in the referendum.

Another community forum will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 19.