Council Schools to Seek Levy
The Council School District will be seeking voter approval of a levy in May’s election this year. The amount the district will ask for is yet to be nailed down. There will be a public meeting in February where the district is seeking public input on the levy and other items of interest. The date of this meeting is not set at this time.
The district has asked for, and voters have approved, a levy every two years since at least 2012. The levy amounts started at $50,000 per year for two years. In 2024, voters in the district approved the most recent levy at $130,000 a year for two years for a total of $260,000. These numbers are from the Adams County Clerk’s office.
However, the state has paid off the most recent levies - the current levy approved in 2024 and the previous one in 2022. In the end, district voters did not end up paying for what they voted for with these levies, at least as directly through local property taxes.
In the past, levy funds have been used to pay teacher aides and other operating expenses such as some IT expenses.
The board deliberated the need for the levy, whether they could find savings elsewhere in the budget to make up for levy funds and whether or not the state may pay for the levy again while acknowledging that that is not guaranteed, especially this year with state budgets already tight.
Board chair Steve Ryals stated that if the levy is not pursued, or is not passed, the district would have to make cuts, reduce staff, or both, to get to a balanced budget.
Of the board members present, Jen Hamaker was the most vocal about finding savings in the budget to reduce or eliminate the need for the levy. During part of that discussion Ryals mentioned that salaries and benefits make up about 81% of the budget, not leaving a lot of room to make cuts in other budget areas. If the district were to not pursue a levy they would have to cut roughly 50% of the remaining spending that is not tied to salary and benefits to completely make up for the lack of a levy.
“We are at a critical time and we need to start thinking outside of the box” board member Jen Hamaker said in response to budget concerns. “If we’re going to ask the taxpayers for $240,000 I think that we should earn it.”
Hamaker ultimately voted against going for a levy with the other board members voting in favor of it. The dollar amount was not set at this time since the district will be seeking public input as mentioned previously.
