The school portion of your tax bill will likely go up next year.
The South Milwaukee School District has increased its 2010-11 tax levy 5.18%, from $13,836,711 to $14,546, 459. This is higher than the area average levy increase of 2.68%, according to this Journal Sentinel story.
Here is how it compares to other area communities:
- Cudahy, up 1.69%
- Oak Creek-Franklin, down 0.83%
- St. Francis, up 9.9%
- Milwaukee, down 0.79%
Click here for a graphic showing levy increases for all area school districts.
Of course, this deserves some context.
I’ve been lucky, and honored, to be a part of the school district’s ongoing long-range visioning and planning exercise involving more than 30 administrators, staff, students and other community members. As part of this, we’ve had a chance to take a deeper dive into the financials of the district — and clearly see the problems facing it and many other school districts in the state.
It starts with a broken state school funding system — one that is supposed to fund two-thirds of local education costs, but increasingly falls short of that — and is exacerbated by enrollment concerns, levy limits, state mandates, rising costs and other factors.
The end result? Cuts to staff, programs and curriculum are an annual reality for the district, and this year is no different. Simply, there is not much left to cut, and further cuts directly impact the quality of local education. So it’s hard to argue with a levy increase of 5.1%.
South Milwaukee needs, and deserves, a first-class school system. And I’m willing to pay for it.
South Milwaukee Blog 
outrageous!
I would like to know what type of increase the administrators are receiving in 2011. Time to trim the FAT!!! School Board members are up for re election.
And of course, there is certainly nowhere to cut in the budget. Add this to the cities proposed increase of 1.9%, that brings us to a 7% increase in the tax levy. And we haven’t even gotten to the state, county or MATC tax levy increases. ( also do not forget the 56% increase in water rates. The people running this city are really watching out for us little guys.) Are the mayor and common council receiving a raise this year???
crickets chirping for 11 days now………..
Melanie: Sorry I didn’t reply sooner … trust me, I’m doing my best here. If you want a direct reply more quickly, please just email me. To your question, the mayor and council did receive pay raises effective January 1, 2010. The raise was $50 per month, or $600 per year, for council members — the first pay raise in more than a decade, I was told. Still, with other city employees receiving no pay raise at all in 2010, I objected to it (check the meeting minutes). When I did, I was told that the council approved the raise before I was elected, and I didn’t sense even tepid support among other council members to revote on this. So I pledged to give my $600 back for 2010. I am still working on doing this — with hopes of putting the money toward a new website marketing the city to prospective residents and businesses. I have a formal plan before the Chamber of Commerce now. If that falls through, I’ll give my $600 to charity or some other cause.
Thanks Eric.