Signs point toward a possible April operational referendum for the Pardeeville School District. A 2007 referendum allowed the Pardeeville School Board to exceed the state revenue caps for three years. It was $800,000 for the first two years, and $875,000 for the last year, which will soon be gone.

"We would have to cut $875,000 if this disappears June 30. So right now for the 2010-2011 budget - if the referendum was not approved - we'd have to automatically cut $875,000," said Gus Knitt, Pardeeville School District administrator.

Knitt said the school district would return to the taxpayers and ask to maintain $875,000 for operational purposes. Without operational money, cuts could be "very severe," Knitt said.

"There will be majoreliminations and reductions in all parts of the school district programs, including athletics," Knitt said.

There has been no formal adoption of a referendum question, Knitt said, but it must be done in order to keep the school district going at the status quo.

The Pardeeville School District budget for the 2009-10 school year is $10,422,420, but with expenses at $10,580,836, there was a deficit of $158,416. That amount will potentially be covered with the almost $2 million fund balance the school has, Knitt said, so there would be a balanced budget because of that.

In comparison, the budget for the 2008-09 school year was $10,074,402.

Property values in the municipalities within the district also went down, which was expected, Knitt said.

"Down by $11 million. I have seen no dip like this since the 1980s, it's always gone up. It's tied directly to the recession," Knitt said.

The property valuation is $524,884,903 for this year, and last year the number was $536,133,957.

As property values go down, the mill rate (amount taxpayers give to the school district) goes up. The mill rate this year is $10.13, which amounts to $1,013 a year on a $100,000 home. This is about a two percent bump up from last year when the mill rate was at $8.75, and taxpayers had $875 on a $100,000 home.

These taxes are higher because of a slash in state aid to schools, which in turn, forces the hand of local school districts to make up the residual amount needed to operate. When Gov. Jim Doyle announced the cut in state aid this spring, Pardeeville (and other school districts) had already passed the deadline to send out layoff notices as a way to curb their budgets, Knitt said.

"We're a low-spending district, and yet, we got this type of tax hike," Knitt said.

Although some residents may be taken back by the numbers, the state of the school finances has been made public.

"We talked about the budget a lot this spring, had our annual (budget) meeting in August, published our budget, and only a few people showed up," Knitt said.

At a regular school board meeting on Monday, Knitt brought in representatives from Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals, LLC. Carol Wirth, president of the firm, discussed possible financial bonds, and an outlet for carrying out a referendum. Knitt said the school board budgeted $5,000 for a referendum in case they needed to carry out the election themselves, or if they wanted to hire out a professional group.

"We had heard of ways to do maintenance projects within our budget, but (also) be able to find ways to borrow at low interest, so we can pay it back within 10 to 15 years," Knitt said.

Within the scope of maintenance projects is the complete re-roofing of the Pardeeville High School/Elementary School in 2012 by continuously putting in $25,000 into the Capital Expansion Fund. This way, Knitt said, the roof repair could be done without going to the voters.

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