What is the Cost of a School Resource Officer? //www.williamsbayschools.org/pro/bulletin/rss_posts.cfm?threadid=38&memberid=886 Dr. Anderson's Blog - What is the Cost of a School Resource Officer? en-us Wayne Anderson //www.williamsbayschools.org/about/blog.cfm?posts=1&threadid=38#item_49 Some of the questions that I am often asked about a referendum are, “What is the cost of the referendum?” and “How will this impact my property taxes?”  This blog will attempt to answer both of these fundamental questions.

First, the cost of a school resource officer (SRO) to the Williams Bay School District will be about $90,000 per year.  According to the Williams Bay Police Department, a police officer’s annual salary and fringe benefit costs are approximately $114,000.  This rate can change with the officer’s experience, but they felt that it was a good estimate when determining how much money would need to be allocated to fund the position.  The SRO would be assigned to the District basically during the days that students are present in the buildings. This means that about 75% of the police officer’s time would be spent in the schools; so the District would assume 75% of the cost.  For the first year, this amount would be $85,500 and would gradually increase as the officer’s salary and fringe benefits increased. This surplus amount will be set aside to help pay these expenditures once the District’s cost of the SRO exceeds $90,000 per year.  The District would build these additional salary and fringe benefit increases into our normal operating budget.

Second, what impact will this referendum have on my property tax bill?  We have worked with Baird, a firm that specializes in school and public finance, to examine what the property tax impact will be for our community.  They have estimated that the cost of this recurring referendum amount will be an additional $9 per $100,000 of equalized property value. This simply means that you multiply the value of your house by .00009 to get your estimated yearly property tax increase.  For example, if your house has an equalized value of $300,000 your property tax increase would be $27 per year. As more property is built within the school district, this property tax amount will go down, as long your house value remains basically the same.

Property taxes are always a complex and personal topic, so if you have any questions about how this referendum will impact your individual property taxes please feel free to contact me by phone (262) 245-1575, by email wanderson@williamsbayschools.org or by stopping in and seeing me at school.  I will be happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability.  As always, thank you for your continued support of our students, staff and community.

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