FILER, Idaho β On Election Day, voters in Filer will see not one, but two levy requests from the school district. But according to Superintendent Kelli Schroeder, what's on the ballot doesn't show the whole picture of what taxpayers will actually pay.
After a failed $52 million bond attempt to build a new middle school last May, the Filer School District is asking voters to approve a different path for maintaining and upgrading Filer schools.
This time, the district is proposing a 10-year, $300,000 per year plant facilities levy, as well as a $650,000 two-year supplemental levy.
WATCH: Despite ballot language, Superintendent Schroeder says Filer's two school levies would actually reduce property taxes β
"For the Plant Facilities Levy it will be $30 per $100,000 of assessed value and the Supplemental Levy will cost $65 per $100,000 of assessed value," Schroeder said.
That's what the ballot says, but according to Schroeder, the tax estimate voters will see on that ballot omits crucial details, including the end of collections on a 20-year bond as well as an increase in facility offset tax breaks from the state.
"Last year the school facility fund was $78, that's the tax break that property owners saw $78 per $100,000, and that has increased to $82," Schroeder said.
If both plant and supplement levies were to pass, according to the ballot, it would cost taxpayers $95 per $100,000 of assessed value.
But if you factor in no tax collection on the old elementary school construction bond and the tax break increase, that estimated $95 is nowhere near what taxpayers will actually pay.
"Last year, property owners were paying, with the school facility fund, they paid $50 per $100,000 of assessed value. This year, asking for both of these and not collecting on the bond, it will lower that to $13 per $100,000. So, while we're asking for two, it is still less than what we've collected in the past," Schroeder said.
The school district says the majority of the plant facility levy funds would go to maintenance and mild upgrades at the aging middle school until a new plan for a new school can be developed. That levy needs 55% approval to pass.
As for the supplemental levy, 80% will cover teacher salaries, with 10% going to extracurricular's and the other 10% to supplies. It needs only a simple majority to pass.
Filer isn't the only school district seeing issues with ballot language. Last week, the Minidoka School District ran into this very same problem with their levy information.
You can watch that full story HERE.
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