DANVILLE – “Preserving the past, promoting the present and preparing for the future.”
That was the theme set by Danville Local Schools Superintendent Jason Snively at Monday’s levy community meeting.
Several community members, teachers and board members gathered in the Danville High School gym to hear potential and planned improvements coming to Danville Local Schools in the coming years.
The five-year, three-mill permanent improvement (PI) levy will be on the Nov. 8 general ballot, with the district currently building a levy committee.
The district will pay off the debt collected by the 2.1 mill tax levy for the elementary school by the end of this year. This would be an additional .9 mills to the new levy for five years but would have a wider array of improvements.
The permanent improvement levy with a total three mills collected would cost the average taxpayer approximately $32 more per year per $100,000 in assessed property value, Snively said.
“(There’s) going to be additional resources that we’re going to need to continue to make improvements,” he said.
Danville currently has an income tax levy at 1% that will need to be renewed as it expires in 2024. Snively says those funds are necessary for daily operations.
The Knox County Auditor (Jonette Curry) has certified the dollar amount of revenue generated by such additional tax levy during the first year of collection is $274,440, based on the current tax valuation of the school district of $91,482,690.
If the levy passes, projected plans include replacement of unit vents and ACs in the high school, auditorium improvements and high school kitchen equipment.
Roughly $3 million has already been set aside for building improvements, which is being taken out of the general fund.
A major project on the docket is to replace a portion of the elementary school’s roof, built in 1965.
“(We’re) hoping to start construction next summer if all goes to plan,” Snively said.
Another project set in the general funds is an additional new three-story edition to the high school. This will include a secure entryway, elevator, additional office and classroom space, Josh Predovich, project manager at SHP architecture firm, said.
Predovich added the list of projects could change.
“Students are the future of our community,” Snively said. “We know that.”
