Council OKs police liaison agreement
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By BARBARA LYON
editor@dunnconnect.com
Sunday, November 1, 2009 7:07 AM CST
Instead of a half-time police liaison officer, it looks like the School District of the Menomonie Area may enjoy the services of a full-time officer — at least for this school year.
At a special meeting Monday night, the Menomonie School Board approved spending $58,800 to pay for the position. Now all that’s left is for the Menomonie City Council to approve the measure — one that will come with Mayor Dennis Kropp’s recommendation — at its meeting on Nov. 2.
The officer would be in place from Nov. 2 to June 11, 2010. The intergovernmental agreement between the two entities expired in July, leaving the school district without a liaison officer as students returned to school in September. In the past, the cost of the position was evenly split between the school district and the city. The cost for a full year is estimated at around $100,000.
In January, the school board and representatives from the city will meet to negotiate a new agreement for the 2010-11 school year.
The school board is asking that Officer Jim Jasicki be returned as police liaison, a position he held last year. In an e-mail to City Administrator Lowell Prange, School Board President Colleen Davis wrote, “To have an officer that is reputable and well known with students and staff is instrumental in ensuring a successful liaison program. Our goal is to be proactive and having an officer who can step in at this late date will allow us to pick up where we left off in building this program.”
Mayor Dennis Kropp responded, “In anticipation of approval by both entities, I will direct the Chief of Police to make an officer available as soon as possible. Unless unforeseen circumstance arise, I expect the officer assigned to be the same person who has performed this duty the past couple of years.”
Energy efficiencies
At the top of Monday night’s action agenda was a resolution to exceed the revenue limit by $134,148 to implement energy efficiency measures.
The plan, approved by the council, includes replacing the roof over the high school pool as well as upgrading some of the lighting at the Menomonie Middle School and at Oaklawn, River Heights and Wakanda elementary schools.
The annual savings for the roofing project is estimated at $1,344, with a cost recovery of 84.7 years. At 2.4 years, the cost recovery for lighting project is considerable shorter and will save the district $8,300 a year. The impact on the tax rate is 9 cents for every $1,000 of equalized assessed valuation.
Budget, tax levy
The board also approved a $48.5 million budget for the 2009-10 school year and a levy of $16.3 million, an increase of 2.61 percent over last year.
That’s actually relatively low compared to neighboring districts — Eau Claire at 7 percent, Chippewa Falls at 9.9 percent, Altoona at 4.4 percent and Osseo at 9.67 percent.
An increase in student enrollment meant that Menomonie was among the few districts in the state to receive an increase in state aid, from $17.4 million last year to $18.2 million in 2009-10.
Taxpayers can expect to pay $9.91 per $1,000 in valuation next year, a 6.1 percent increase. It should be noted, however, that 3.37 percent of the increase can be attributed to a drop in property valuations, from $1.709 billion in 2008-09 to $1.651 billion in 2009-10.
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