2025 Operational Referendum

An operational referendum is used to help fund the ongoing day-to-day expenses of the school district. This type of referendum offers a solution to manage funding gaps while keeping 100% of referendum tax dollars in the district. It helps support the priorities and goals of the local district.

Yes! Thanks to the support of our community, CSD passed a CAPITAL referendum in 2020. This referendum allowed CSD to engage in long-term borrowing to upgrade CES to an almost completely new building allowing more grade levels to learn at the site. These funds also went to extensive upgrades at CHS including the Commons and the CTE areas. There were also upgrades made at CMS.

A capital referendum is used to fund major building projects and improvements. This can include the construction of new school buildings, significant renovations or additions to existing facilities, purchasing land, or major equipment expenditures.

The question that was approved on April 7, 2020 was:

Shall the Columbus School District, Columbia, Dodge, and Dane counties, Wisconsin be authorized to issue pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $30,000,000 for the purpose of paying the cost of a district-wide school facilities improvement program consisting of: construction of additions and renovations at the Elementary School and the High School; capital maintenance and infrastructure improvements at all district buildings; acquisition of land; and acquisition of furnishings, fixtures, and equipment.

The funds that are remaining can ONLY be used for these FACILITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. Since our CSD Operational needs are not under this purpose, the remaining funds cannot be used for CSD future projected operational needs.

The Columbus School District is projecting a budget shortfall for the next several years.  This is due to numerous external factors.  Funding for school districts has become less sustainable and predictable. The root of the situation stems from three key components: inflation, state budgeting allocations, and the Wisconsin school funding formula. Additionally, CSD is motivated to continue to meet our community priorities and sustain programming that has resulted in positive outcomes and academic growth for our students. An approved operational referendum has been the reality for over half of the school districts in the state of Wisconsin in the past decade.  Like many entities, school districts can either increase revenue or decrease expenses during difficult financial times. Schools have limited opportunities to increase revenue. Over the past several years, the district has made significant modifications, adaptations, and project delays to cut expenses. These factors have led to this operational referendum question being on the April 1st ballot. There will be additional questions on the FAQ with more information on some of these specific topics.

The main type of school revenue is brought in through revenue limits. Revenue limit increases were tied to inflation when they were introduced in 1993. When expenses rose by 3%, the revenue limit in turn rose by 3%. In 2009, during our last recession, the state legislators chose to decouple (detach) revenue limit increases from inflation. Instead, school districts were given a flat amount of revenue limit increases each year. These increases did not keep pace with inflation. In addition, from 2020-2023, there was a $0 revenue limit increase due to ONE-TIME ESSER funding. These situations created a lag in revenues for school districts that equals over $3,300 in missed revenue per pupil just this year alone.

Yes, In November 2024, 79 Wisconsin school districts, or 19% of all school districts statewide, asked their communities to raise their revenue limits through an operational referendum. Currently over 65% of school districts in the state of Wisconsin are operating under an operational referendum.

The district has implemented a variety of actions to address financial challenges the last couple of years. Projects and purchases have been delayed, cancelled, or adapted due to budget shortfalls. Additionally, there has been a reduction of staffing of almost 10 positions and a reduction of roughly 5% of non personnel expenses over those 2 years. 

In addition to the action above, one-time ESSER funds were utilized in both years to cover shortfalls. ESSER funding was available starting in the 2021-2022 school year to provide one time federal funding as part of the response to the pandemic. ESSER funding has not been continued past 2023-2024 . ESSER funds were provided instead of a per pupil revenue limit increase in the Wisconsin School Funding formula from 2020-2023. 

Finally, one other action that was completed was an approval of a $420,000 deficit budget for 2024-2025. The ability to run on a deficit budget was due to a healthy fund balance to cover the amount while staying within policy and avoiding short term borrow. Continuing to run a deficit budget would not be sustainable. 

If approved, the 2025-2026 projected impact is  $0.71, representing $71 for every $100,000 of property valuation. This impact would equate to $5.92 per month for every $100,000 of property valuation. This amount is a reflection of the actual tax impact from 2024-2025 which included a defeasance.

For the 2024-2025 school year, the mill rate was $6.87. The 2024-2025 mill rate included a defeasance, which is a strategy utilized to save taxpayers money by paying off debt faster while keeping the CSD mill rate steady.  The property tax rate for the Columbus School has decreased since 2015. The tax rate was $10.98 per $1,000 of home fair market valuation in 2014-2015.

The approved operational referendum amount of $1.75 million is added to the projected property tax levy for 2025-2026.  This amount is then subtracted from the property tax levy amount without the $1.75 million.  This total is then divided by the total fair market property valuation of Columbus School District.

Fair market value (or equalized value) is the estimated worth of all properties in a municipality or school district. Property assessments differ by municipality, so equalized value helps standardize them. This ensures that all property owners are taxed fairly based on their property's actual value, creating a more consistent tax system. In Wisconsin, schools must use fair market value, which is shown on your property tax bill.

When a property reassessment occurs, it adjusts property values in your area to reflect current market conditions, aligning them with fair market value (or equalized value). This ensures that tax burdens are fairly distributed. 

While a reassessment does not change the tax revenue collected by the school district, it can affect how the total amount is divvied up between property owners. If your new assessment increases more than others, your tax amount may go up. If it increases less than others, your tax amount may go down. 

If the total school district levy amount is a pie, a reassessment doesn’t change the pie total; but the reassessment may change the size of your slice. If your property’s value increases more than others, your slice gets larger, and you may pay more in property taxes. If your property’s value increases less than others or decreases, your slice gets smaller, and you may pay less. 
 

A YES vote means that you are approving the operational referendum amount. A NO vote means that you are not approving the operational referendum amount.

All information regarding voting in Wisconsin can be obtained by going to myvote.wi.gov. Information such as find my polling place, register to vote, or vote absentee by mail can be found at this site.

Please email us at referendum@columbus.k12.wi.us or call us at 920-623-5950 and select option 2.

CSD distributed these informational sheets to 85 businesses located in the Columbus School District.  The informational sheets that were distributed by CSD look like this.  These informational sheets are the same ones provided at all the community presentations and informational sessions.

If you have any referendum questions, please email them over to REFERENDUM@COLUMBUS.K12.WI.US