Mineral Point school board votes to seek $1.3 million increase via referendum

The Mineral Point Unified School District board voted at its meeting to authorize placing a referendum on the ballot that would allow the district to exceed its revenue limit by $1.3 million beginning with the 2025–26 school year.

The board amended the agenda to treat two referendum resolutions as action items before taking the vote. A Staff member explained the first resolution would authorize the district to exceed the revenue limit specified under Wisconsin law by $1,300,000 for recurring operational expenses; the second resolution provides the wording and process to place the question on the ballot for district voters to decide.

"It basically gives the school board the ability to exceed the revenue limit by 1,300,000. It can't be any more than that," the Staff member said when asked how the amount functions as a cap. Committee members pressed whether the ballot language implies a definite levy or an authorization "up to" that figure; the Staff member said the district could levy smaller increments up to the stated cap.

Committee members also raised concerns about whether ballot language can account for every fiscal contingency; one member said the wording can feel as if the district is taking the full amount even though the board intends to levy in increments. The Staff member said the language was prepared by legal counsel and is typical of referendum language other districts have used this season.

The motion to treat the resolutions as action items carried and the board proceeded to approve the resolutions that will put the authorization and the election question before district voters.

Next steps: the language approved by the board will be used to place the referendum question on the ballot for voters in the Mineral Point Unified School District; the board and staff indicated actual levy decisions would follow and could be phased in smaller increments up to the $1.3 million cap.