Ballot issues: Schools
Several schools in mid-Missouri are asking voters to approve bond issues and tax increases on April 2.
Southern Boone
The Southern Boone Board of Education is asking voters to increase the property tax levy by 40 cents per $100 of assessed value. The money would pay for operating expenses and capital improvements, including building, furnishing and equipping a new wing of the Primary School and hiring staff to keep teacher-student ratios low.
Approval would push the operating tax levy from $3.6585 to $4.0585. If the measure is approved the district property tax on a $150,000 home would grow from about $1,042 to $1,156.
Fayette
The Fayette district based in Howard County is asking for an increase in its operating levy of 72 cents per $100 assessed value to pay for the costs of running the district. The increase would bring the school’s operating levy to $4.22 per $100 of assessed value.
For the owner of a $150,000 home, the increase represents about $205 per year in extra real estate taxes.
Blair Oaks
The Blair Oaks school district wants to borrow $14 million in bond funds to pay for the construction, equipping and furnishing of a new high school. Any of the total not spent on the school would be used for other district building needs. If approved, the bond issue would not increase the school’s debt service tax levy.
In addition to a bond issue to pay for a new high school, Blair Oaks hopes to increase its operating property tax levy by 30 cents per $100 of assessed value. The extra money will pay to hire and retain staff, maintain facilities and pay increased educational costs for the new high school, among other uses. The increase would put the district’s levy at $3.05 per $100 assessed value and would represent a tax increase of about $85 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home.
Higbee
The Higbee school district wants to borrow $1.5 million to build and furnish a preschool/multipurpose building, renovate the high school, and replace heating and air conditioning systems in the elementary and gymnasium. The district’s debt service tax levy would not change.
Boonville
The Boonville district is asking voters to approve $9 million in bond funding to pay for safety and security upgrades, roof replacement, a new science lab and new heating and air conditioning units. Approval would not increase the district’s debt service levy.
Voters will decide whether to increase their property taxes by 49 cents per $100 of assessed value. The district says the increase to the operating levy would pay for better maintenance and to hire and retain staff, among other needs. The tax levy would increase from $3.375 to $3.865 per $100 of assessed value, going up about $140 per year for the owner of a $150,000 home.
Community R-VI
The Community R-VI school district wants to borrow $1.85 million in bond funds for safety and security upgrades, to replace roofs and heating and air conditioning systems and to build and equip a new Vo-Ag building or renovate an existing one, among other uses. The debt service tax levy would remain unchanged.
New Bloomfield
The New Bloomfield district wants to increase its operating tax levy by 50 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to $3.3323 to pay for staff, maintain facilities and other operating expenses. The increase would equal about $142 in addition tax per year for the owner of a $150,000 home.
However, the district plans to reduce its debt service levy by 50 cents, leading to no tax increase.
Brunswick
The question, dubbed “Proposition Wildcats,” asks voters to approve a $1.7 million bond issue to increase safety without an increase in the district’s debt service levy.
