MOUNT VERNON – Residents of Mount Vernon, Northridge and North Fork school districts will be eligible to vote on district-specific issues in Tuesday’s special election.
Mount Vernon City Schools has placed a permanent improvement (PI) levy on the ballot. The 2.9-mill PI levy would replace the existing 2-mill levy, which was established in 1977. Taxpayers would not see an increase in costs, however, because the district is looking to redirect tax revenue from an expiring bond issue to the PI fund through this levy.
In December, Mount Vernon City Schools will have paid off its 25-year, $10.9 million bond to build Mount Vernon Middle School. By passing the district’s proposed PI levy this spring, the district will continue to collect the same amount from voters moving forward (residents are currently paying $3.99 per month, per $100,000 home for the middle school), although it will instead be used for PI projects. The district found that adding an extra 0.9 mills to the PI levy would allow taxpayers to continue to pay the same amount.
The replacement PI levy would give Mount Vernon City Schools approximately $725,000 more per year to spend on facility updates and other projects. Under state law, PI funds must only be used for “certain capital improvement projects, maintenance and repairs of school property, and to purchase items with a lifespan of five years or more,” district treasurer Judy Forney noted in the MVCSD spring newsletter. PI funds are not to be used for operational costs such as salaries, benefits, supplies or utilities.
Through public feedback and school board inspection, the district has already identified facilities in need of renovation. This additional funding would allow those improvements to be made.
“It’s a part of entering the 21st century in education for our children,” board of education member Mary Rugola-Dye said at the Jan. 14 meeting. “And in order to do that, we have to have the funds, plain and simple.”
North Fork Local Schools is looking to renew its one-percent earned income tax this spring. District residents have voted to renew this tax every three years since 2007, superintendent Scott Hartley said, and the rate of one percent has not changed during that time.
This tax takes one percent of district residents’ earned income and puts it towards key operating expenses, such as instructional materials. It’s also funded curricular programs like The Leader in Me, which helps elementary school students learn leadership skills through empowerment.
According to Hartley, revenue from this tax makes up approximately 20 percent of the district’s operating budget.
“Let’s keep our initiatives moving forward,” Hartley said in a message to voters. “This is money for the students, the classrooms. We believe it’s vital to the education of our students.”
Northridge Local Schools has placed two items on Tuesday’s ballot. The first is a 0.5-percent earned income tax that would last 27 years, to be used for permanent improvement projects. The second is a 4.3-mill bond for the construction of a new elementary school, which would cost $22 million over 27 years.
Money from the earned income tax would be used to update and maintain the middle school and high school, superintendent Scott Schmidt said. The middle school was renovated in 1996, and the high school was built that same year.
The new elementary school would be built on the same campus, whereas it was previously located in Alexandria. District residents were previously paying $100 annually per $100,000 home for the high school bond issue, Schmidt said, and that was paid off last year. The new bond issue would cost taxpayers $150 annually per $100,000 home, representing a $50 increase.
Schmidt told the Mount Vernon News that “the current conditions at our primary school and trailers for fourth and fifth graders are not an appropriate learning space.” Constructing a new K-5 building – and making it centrally located – would improve the students’ educational experience, Schmidt said.
Between the earned income tax to update existing facilities and the bond issue to build a new elementary school, Schmidt views these two tax items as beneficial to the entire district.
“It’s really an opportunity to benefit all students,” Schmidt said, “kindergarten through our graduating seniors.”
