Supplemental Levy

The Board of Trustees set the 2009 supplemental levy Tuesday evening $50,000 lower than the current levy. The proposed levy, to be voted on May 19, was set at $515,000. The levy covers the shortfall between state funding and the expenses of the educational program.

The decrease is a result of reducing staff by 1.3 FTE, deferring the purchase of math textbooks for one year, maintaining the status quo in the activities program, limiting activity travel, utilizing federal stimulus dollars to pay for instructional aides and slightly increasing revenue by adding a transportation fee for non-athletic activities. We are also expending about $53,000 of excess fund balance and transferring another $18,000 from the medical reimbursement account.

The current maintenance and operations budget will have minimal negative impacts on most students and families. The election is being held on May 19 from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM. There is one polling place in each county; the Latah poll is at the school and the Nez Perce poll is at the Morscheck residence.

The cost of this levy, based on an estimated market value of $124,479,343, taking into account the reductions in property tax as a result of the agricultural property tax replacement, is $3.76 per thousand dollars of assessed value.