By Press Times Staff

DE PERE – It was good news for taxpayers in the De Pere school district Monday, Oct. 26, when the school board passed a pocketbook-friendly budget.

The 2020-21 budget includes a tax levy of $16,732,516, down from $19,904,975 the previous year.

“Most of it has to do with our referendum debt coming down $2,842,669,” said Dawn Foeller, business manager. “We had a debt schedule. That is just how they set the debt schedule up when they originally took the debt out.”

Foeller said the district took on $9,655,000 of debt in 2012 with the successful passage of a capital referendum.

She said the district cut the check for the last payment of that debt Oct. 1.

With the decreased tax levy, Foeller said the tax rate also decreased from last year by $1.78 to $6.52 per $1,000 of home value.

However, she said the district saw a 7.07 percent increase in equalized value.

Even with the increase, Foeller said the new lower tax rate should result in decreased tax payments for district residents.

“We also had a pretty big increase in our general (categorical) aids we get from the State of Wisconsin,” she said. “It went up $1,988,426. That also helped to reduce our tax levy.”

Revenues and expenditures for the 2020-21 general fund in De Pere increased $1,086,569 from last year, to a total of $49,962,098.

“Our financial health is doing fine,” Foeller said. “The large decreases we’re seeing in our mill rate has to be with the referendum debt being paid off on schedule.”