WHEATLAND — Residents of the Wheatland Center School District will be asked again, on Oct. 27, to allow the district to exceed its state-imposed revenue cap by $300,000 for another four years.

Administrator Scott Huth said the district is asking voters for the same amount as in April. That referendum failed by 43 votes. It is the same amount voters allowed the district to receive for the last four years.

“A lot of people thought what we were asking for was in addition to the $300,000 they approved earlier,” Huth said in response to the failed April referendum.

In fact, the district only seeks to continue exceeding the cap by the same amount as approved four years ago. That request initially took the district several attempts to pass and has since helped it restore a healthy fund balance, said Huth.

Prior to being allowed to exceed its limit, Huth said the district routinely tapped into its fund balance to reduce the tax levy. This left the fund dangerously below $100,000 by the time the referendum was approved.

Since then, the fund balance has been restored to nearly $900,000. However, like most districts, Wheatland is facing a significant cut in state aid and may need to tap into that fund again if it cannot make up that shortfall through other revenue.

Huth estimated prior to the April general election that increasing the revenue limit by $300,000 costs the owner of a $200,000 home 60 cents per $1,000 of equalized property value, or $120 a year.

Huth said the district has done what it can to keep costs down. For example, one full-time custodian was replaced with two part-timers, administrative salary increases were kept minimal and this year two part-time teachers were laid off.