West Bend School Referendum Over $200 Million

On Tuesday evening West Bend School Superintendent Pat Hendrich was aggressively questioned by a gentleman in the audience about the $119.3 million school referendum and its actual tax impact.  After a bit of badgering, she admitted that the $119.3 million does NOT include the interest on the loan.

The district intends to borrow $119.3 million to pay for the proposed spending, but will have to pay it back with interest.  The interest is estimated to be about $87.7 million.  So the total tax impact of the school referendum is $207 million.

It sure would have been nice to know these tiny details sometime before 6 days before the referendum goes for a vote.