Voters in the Lee's Summit School District rejected a new levy proposed by the district. The district claims they will have to make $6 million more in cuts without the new levy. The reasons cited by the district for the shortfall include reduced State and Local funding, and a general economic downturn that has resulted in lower tax revenues. If the levy had passed, it would have made Lee's Summit School District the highest levy rate in the State of Missouri!The new levy would have added approximately $300/year to the average home owner's property taxes. That's no small potatoes for home owner's who already pay some of the highest taxes in the area. Property taxes on automobiles (personal property) is also incredibly high. I personally paid $521 last year for two VERY modest automobiles. The district needs to tighten their belt like the rest of us have.
According to the District website, Programs that would be affected include Parents as Teachers, general instructional positions decreased by 20 over the next two years (probably through attrition, small class size increase, small fees for some extracurricular activities. These are all cuts we can live with. Citizens have had to deal with cuts in their lives, and asking for more money from taxpayers is not an option at this time. By the way, this is the first time since 1995 that a levy increase has been rejected in Lee's Summit - the District has been given everything they asked for for 15 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment