Voters asked to approve tax levy
Kalispell voters have two weeks to decide how deep the cuts will be in next year’s elementary school budget.
Kalispell Public Schools is asking voters to approve a $338,000 tax levy in its elementary district. Voters will decide the issue May 4.
The district has mailed out 2,770 permanent absentee ballots, district Clerk Todd Watkins said. There are 14,267 active voters in the elementary district, according to the Flathead County Election Department.
The elementary district faces a $603,000 shortfall in its 2010-11 budget.
District officials and administrators already have outlined $250,000 in budget cuts, such as no raises for administrators, including building principals and central office staff; not filling some positions; and trimming operations and curriculum budgets.
Those cuts could save about $250,000, officials estimate.
The district will make cuts at the high school level, too — enough to eliminate the $216,600 shortfall it faces next year. Administrators won’t take raises, the agreement with Flathead Valley Community College will be trimmed and the activities budget will be reduced, among other cuts.
Those cuts mean the district won’t need to request voter approval of a high school levy.
It’s more difficult to make cuts that less directly impact students at the elementary level, school officials have said, which is part of the reason the district is asking voters for the elementary levy.
If voters approve the levy request, annual
property taxes on a home with a taxable value of $100,000 would go up by a little more than $19. Property taxes on a home with a taxable value of $200,000 would go up by around $38 a year.
The levy isn’t the only issue Kalispell elementary voters have to decide.
The district also needs voters to decide if it can purchase property for a new elementary kitchen.
This will not affect property taxes.
When voters approved the $10.9 million bond issue that paid to remodel the junior high (now Kalispell Middle School), the district set aside about $350,000 for a new elementary kitchen.
District officials ultimately decided against putting the kitchen at the middle school because of the potential safety hazard posed by delivery trucks driving with students in the area. This also is a concern with the existing kitchen’s location at Flathead High School.
The existing kitchen has space and safety concerns that have kept the district in close communication with the Flathead City-County Health Department.
Earlier this year the district found a half-acre lot with a 3,040-square-foot warehouse at 33 Meridian Court. The district has made a $345,000 offer on the property, but if voters veto the purchase, Kalispell Public Schools has until May 15 to withdraw its offer without losing its $1,000 earnest money.
District officials have estimated the warehouse could be remodeled into a safe, appropriate kitchen for under $800,000. In addition to the bond-issue money, which has accrued interest over the last five years, the district also may have stimulus funds and building reserve money to help with the remodeling.
Those funds cannot legally be used to help ease the deficit the general fund budget faces next year.
Voters also will choose two school board trustees on May 4.
Bradly Eldredge and Heather Kobos are running for one open two-year seat on the elementary board. Incumbent Jean Barragan and Rob Keller are the candidates for a full, three-year term representing Somers-Lakeside and Kila on the high school board.
Additional information about the election is available at www.sd5.k12.mt.us/electns/electn_10/index.htm.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.