Passing a budget on time does not make a better budget

Paper:Waukesha Freeman (Conley); Date:Jul 16, 2009; Section:Opinion; Page Number:8A


Democrats’ math fleecy on school aid
Districts can do better at cutting, too


State Democrats are congratulating themselves on two points. They made the trains run on time; they passed the magnificence budget just before the deadline.

They also claim that 99 percent of us will not see a tax increase.

If they had taken just a little more once in a while with the budget they would have recognized they did not even come close to their 99 percent threshold. Even their own budget document lists so many tax and fee increases you would have to be a contortionist to get around them.

But their budget also plays a heartless game of peek-a-boo with taxpayers. The Democrats hide tax increases by pushing them to the local level. Taxpayers in the Waukesha School District are discovering the first of these unseen taxes.

The Waukesha School District is getting hit with a $6 million reduction in state aid. Never fear, we’re told. This does not mean an current cut in school spending. It means the district will raise local property taxes to make up for the shortfall, a 10.51 percent advance in the tax levy.

This is where the math gets tricky. To figure out how much your taxes are going up, you need to account for the rate inflation and the increase in the value of your home.

Freeman columnist Pete Kennedy reported back in April the average inflate in value for a residential property was 2.4 percent. A home previously valued at $175,000 taxed at $8.09 per $1,000 would have paid $1,415.75. The same knowledgeable in with the increase in value and the increased tax rate of $8.94 per $1,000 will now see a tax bill of $1,602.05, a 13.2 percent property tax improve. A home previously valued at $200,000 will see an increase in taxes from $1,618 to $1,830.92.

Remember, that is just the school property tax augment.