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Cuba City board sets 2.5% salary increase for referendum and OKs five-year nonrecurring ask
Summary
The Cuba City School District board voted to include a 2.5% salary and wage increase in its referendum forecast and approved a nonrecurring five-year funding plan (Scenario 18) with annual asks beginning at about $909,100 and rising to $1.9 million in year five.
The Cuba City School District board voted to set a 2.5% salary and wage increase as the staffing assumption for its April operational referendum and approved a nonrecurring five-year funding request to appear in the referendum language.
Board members settled the salary figure after reviewing 18 budget scenarios prepared by district business staff. Heather, the district business report presenter, said the scenarios modeled 2.5%, 3% and 3.5% increases and compared their effect on the district’s fund balance, mill rate and total levy. The board then moved forward with the 2.5% figure. "We're just using that number because salary inflation is such a big part of the budget," Heather said while walking members through the forecasts.
The board also chose the nonrecurring Scenario 18 for the April ballot. Under that plan the official language will list annual amounts the district would seek: approximately $909,100 in year one, then $1,300,000; $1,500,000; $1,700,000; and $1,900,000 in successive years through year five. The administration said those figures preserve at least a 22% fund-balance target in most models and avoid deeper midterm borrowing.
Board members divided over recurring versus nonrecurring language during the debate. Several members and administrators argued a recurring levy provides long-term stability, while others said community resistance to perpetual levies suggested a one-time (nonrecurring) ask had a better chance of passing. One member summarized the practical choice: "We want something that's going to pass," adding that repeated failures leave the district with worsening cuts.
The motion to set the 2.5% salary increase passed on roll call; members voting in the affirmative included Joel, Barth, White, Hinterman, Cole, Bowden and Andrews. Later, the motion to include the Scenario 18 amounts in the referendum language carried on a similar roll call.
Next steps: the board directed staff to finalize the official ballot language and related resolution at the special meeting next week and continue community outreach explaining what the referendum would restore and how tax impacts change year to year.
