Message from the District Administrator

Always on a journey to the future….destination district….

In the fall of 2012, the Winneconne Community Board of Education and the Collaborative Partners began a planning process that identified facility needs. In the fall of 2015, the groups were ready to get community input on their ideas through a district-side survey. The community spoke. 61% of all residents responding to the survey said that they would support a referendum to improve schools. The program and facilities areas that received the strongest support on the survey were the expansion and operation of a technology wing, and the expansion and operation of an auditorium.

On December 21, 2015, the Board of Education unanimously voted to move forward with a $12.5 million facility referendum for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) classrooms and an auditorium. The Board also moved forward with the $240,000 annual operational referendum to operate the new spaces.

The following was general referendum information

• The estimated cost of the STEAM renovation/addition and the 600 seat auditorium will be $3.00 over the current tax bill for a $100,000 home or $6.00 for a $200,000 home. This is assuming a 0% increase in property value.
• The operations of these facilities will cost our taxpayers approximately $30.00 for a $100,000 home or $60.00 for a $200,000 home annually. This is assuming 0% increase in property value.

On April 5, 2016, both our referendums passed overwhelmingly! Since then, we closed on our first phase of our long-term financing with a 2.61% interest rate! This equates to approximately a $2 million savings versus the original referendum estimates. The estimated yearly debt cost increase of either $3.00, $6.00 or $9.00 on a home just went to $0.00, zero, zip, nada, none! More savings to our taxpayers! This is great news for the 2016 tax bills!

Over the summer months our music staff and a few volunteers toured several auditorium and our STEAM professionals worked closely with Fox Valley Technical College. Design plans have been tweaked, retweaked, and tweaked again. Our plans are completed and now things are off to bid. We look forward to breaking ground in October.

Sincerely,

Peggy Larson