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1. donttreadonme says:

   11/11/2004 at 7:53 pm

   Hey Joe,
   The answer to your first question, how much of your taxes go to the school, is 100 percent of your state income tax and roughly 50% of your total real estate tax.

   The answer to your second question, does your money go towards your kids, is no. In Wisconsin we have a bizarre constitutional provision that guarantees a ‘free’ education to every child between the ages of 4 and 20. You can review Article X of the Wisconsin Constitution at this link: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/unannotated_wisconst.pdf

   Your state income tax is sent to Madison and the bright eyes down there have a formula to redistribute said income tax back to the various school districts throughout the state. This is known as the distribution of state aid to schools. So, a portion of your income tax here in Hudson goes to fund schools in places like Milwaukee, Lake Geneva, Nicolet, etc and not all of it stays here. In fact, none of it stays here as I mentioned. It goes to Madison first and then some of it comes back.

   Then we have your real estate tax. This one is pretty simple, but very hotly debated. The local school district has to make up the difference in what Madison sends via the school aids mentioned above by taxing local property owners. The amount is based upon a statewide formula that tells the school district what the maximum amount of local property tax they can take. It is based on the relative value of properties here in Hudson verses other places in the state. On balance, the school district will tax right to the max – they do because they can. Then they come up with every reason in the world why – from expensive pianos to state of the art computers to video production facilities. The “needs” of the public schools know no end.

   Joe, I hope this helps.

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2. Citizen Joe says:

   11/11/2004 at 8:33 pm

   Thanks donttreadonme. I read that the budget passed was close to 53.7 million dollars. Thats alot of money. Are there even any other businesses in Hudson that have that kind of cash flow? Because there aren’t kids in the county budget, the school budget is even more than that right?

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3. donttreadonme says:

   11/11/2004 at 9:53 pm

   Joe,
   I suspect there are some businesses with that kind of revenue in St Croix County. I can’t name one off the top of my head, but it would not surprise me. I think it is safe to assume there are not many.

   Regarding the County. The total budget for the county for 2005 is approximately $81 million. Of that total, about 26% is paid for via the real estate levy (approx $21 million). Therein is the proof of my previous comment about 50% of your real estate tax bill going to schools, the balance goes to city and county.

   The balance of the county revenue (74%) is obtained by user fees and state/federal aid (redistributed sales taxes). There are various other smaller sources but those are the major ones.

   It is important to note now that the school district has eclipsed the County in property tax levy amount (the district just voted on a $24 million levy). The balance of the school district’s revenue is from state aids, also known as your state income taxes paid.

   The growth rate in the total budget of the school district has been substantially faster than the county. The county budget increased by about 1/3 from 2000/2001 to 2004/2005 while the school district’s total revenue (100% taxes) has gone up considerably faster (don’t have the exact percentage). The county has done a much better job of managing the costs of growth. Take health care premiums for employees as an example. The cost for a family insurance plan with the county is about 25% less than a family plan with the school district. The reason is the teachers union’s unwillingness to shop the plan out in the open market. The school district is also becoming less efficient with regard to personnel. We used to have 8 students per staff member, now we are approaching 7. That is a dangerous trend, because of the rising cost of health care premiums and other benefits.

   You can vote out politicians and school board members but you cannot vote out a beauracracy. The school district has created a nightmare of cost accumulation and it can only get worse with the looming talk of a huge infrastructure expansion – per student expenditures will absolutely rise and the only place to get that extra money will be from real estate property holders – your property tax will rise because of the program spending platforms currently laid out by this school district – they will only expand with time.

   Again, I hope this snap shot helps..

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