By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post
Hays USD 489’s school board members on Monday approved a resolution to adopt a 1 percent increase in the local option budget .
The special meeting was called in order to meet a June 30 deadline that Superintendent Dean Katt said has “school districts scrambling” across the state to pass a LOB in time. The board agreed to sign a waiver because the special meeting was not publicized in advance.
Katt said the move comes after the recently passed school funding compromise bill, which has a provision saying districts can increase the LOB to make up for state funding cuts.
The LOB will need to approved by the community through a mail ballot vote.
“The estimated cost … is about $20,000 to do an election,” Katt said. “If you look at the gain of roughly $200,000, I think it is something we can use to offset the fee charges and some of those things.”
School board member Marty Patterson expressed concern the community would not vote for the 1 percent increase.
“We have got a whole room of people here, how many of you would vote to raise your taxes if we sent out a ballot?” he asked a larger-than-normal audience.
The crowd clapped loudly.
Patterson said the room might be a be a “little jaded” in their opinion but, “I guess we don’t know unless we send it out.”
According to a press release sent out by USD 489 shortly after Monday’s meeting, “increasing the local option budget (LOB) to 31 percent of the general fund would be in the best interests of the district. With the changes in school finance, the Legislature has left the school district with only one option to enhance revenues, bringing school funding back to the local level.”
The press release stated USD 489 has “experienced a significant reduction in state funding the past five years. The district’s general operating funds (general fund plus supplemental general fund) have declined from $24.6 million in 2008-09 to $23.3 million in 2013-14. This is a decrease of $1.3 million in state funding annually.”
The school board plans to release more information on the election and details on the LOB increase to the community before the ballots are mailed.
PressRelease_LOBAdoptionBOE_4-14-14
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