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Shell Lake superintendent outlines April referendum as residents press tax-impact questions
Summary
Shell Lake School District Superintendent Todd Felhofer outlined an April 1 referendum and said the district plans to use defeasance to reduce near-term tax impacts; City Administrator Andrew Eiche and residents pressed for clearer debt and tax-impact figures and warned defeasance could defer larger costs to 2029.
Todd Felhofer, superintendent of the Shell Lake School District, told the Shell Lake City Council on March 10 that the district will present a referendum on the April 1 ballot and plans to use defeasance to reduce the immediate tax burden on property owners.
Felhofer said the district intends to use defeasance as a financing strategy to lower the impact on taxpayers over the next four years. "We intend to utilize defeasance to reduce the impact to the tax payer over the next four years," he said.
City Administrator Andrew Eiche and several residents pressed the district for clearer numbers and long-term implications. Eiche displayed calculations he said showed the school literature underestimates the local impact: "The city of Shell Lake represents 51.04% of the taxes collected by the school. There are 1,204 tax-paying property owners in Shell Lake," he said, and using the district's estimated mill rates he calculated an increase of about $84.50 per property over the next four years, a city collection of roughly $101,738. "With the information you have been able to provide, I would estimate the next referendum in 2029 could start as high as $3,000,000," Eiche added, saying his concern was that defeasance defers the district's debt burden into years five through nine.
Residents in the audience asked for basic fiscal details that were not answered during the meeting. DeEtt Rayman asked what the current fund balance in the district's debt fund was; that question went unanswered in the session.
Felhofer said the district would send another mailer to clarify the referendum details. Mayor Rowie Hansberger thanked Felhofer for the presentation and noted the role of volunteers in community efforts: "There were over 300 attendees, and the event was fantastic. It was the volunteers that made it all happen." Hansberger also voiced skepticism that state or federal funding increases would be forthcoming.
The school referendum will appear on the April 1 ballot; district officials and city leaders signaled they would continue to exchange information about debt levels, defeasance mechanics and projected tax impacts ahead of the election.
