After over spending by $14 million, West Allis sells school district offices

The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District has sold its administrative offices to a developer in an effort to recover from $14 million in over-spending in recent years that wiped out the district's reserves.

The district announced this week that the school board approved selling the district office at 1205 S. 70th St. and the West Allis-West Milwaukee Learning Center at 7021 W. Washington St. for $6.75 million. The developer has plans to turn the buildings into mixed-use retail and commercial office space, according to the district.

West Allis-West Milwaukee now needs to figure out where to relocate its administrative offices and the Learning Center. The district also is exploring the viability of placing an operational referendum on the ballot for the April 2017 election. The item would ask residents to agree to higher taxes to fund district operations.

The school board and administration over-spent the district's budget between 2013-'14 and 2014-'15 on everything from employee benefits and investment payments to school operations and athletics facility improvements. Neither the administration or school board appeared to realize the extent of the over-spending until late 2015 when an auditor's report laid out the specifics. The report found no negligence or misconduct, according to West Allis Now.

District Spokesman Brian Vissers said the financial problems were compounded by a recent drop in student enrollment.