Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Community Service Taxes Skyrocketing

This is why taxpayers can’t exempt things from levy limits.  The tax spenders are very creative. 

Community service taxes, which help pay for such recreation programs, have more than doubled statewide since 2001 as cash-strapped school districts shift costs from school budgets to these funds.

And the Madison School District leads the pack.

The district levied $9.9 million this school year for community service and recreation programs, triple what was levied in 2001-02. It also tops the levy in Milwaukee, which has roughly triple Madison’s population.

In 2001-02, the state Legislature exempted from school revenue limits community service levies, or those funds that pay for programs such as swimming lessons or community social workers. And school districts moved to identify as many community service- related costs as possible.

Remember this happened pre-Doyle.

(4) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0653 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. The legislature rightfully saw that this was necessary.  If not for this then schools would be charging much, much more for the use of their facilities.  Then you would have community members screaming that I pay taxes and I should not have to pay for the use of the schools.  They already do that it would just be much louder.  For everyones info schools are forbidden by law from making a profit on almost all of the things that they do.  So, when fees are set they are set to cover the reasonable forseen costs of an event.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2007 at 0912 hrs


  2. In additon to my comments above it should be understood that the reason that some districts are using this fund more than others is that each community relies on its schools differently.  Some communities run their park and rec programs through the school exclusively.  this means that the school incurs a massive amount of expense and recieves very little income to offset the expense.  There are districts that literally have their buildings open, heated, lighted and staffed for clean up and safety from 6am to 11pm.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2007 at 1024 hrs


  3. And I don’t think those fees are tax deductible like property taxes.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2007 at 1726 hrs


  4. Note of clarification.  They are taxdeductible because they come from property tax dollars levied by the district.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 22, 2007 at 0746 hrs


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