WONDER LAKE – The Harrison District 36 school board
this week will hold its last pre-election informational
meeting on its tax-rate referendum for the district's
education fund.
The district will host the open forum meeting at 7
p.m. Thursday at Harrison Elementary School, 6809
McCullom Lake Road. The district seeks voter approval of
a 58-cent education-fund rate increase Nov. 2.
"We want this to be a public-directed
question-and-answer format," board President Sue Murphy
said. "We want to know if there are any concerns so we
can try to address them."
Murphy said a slide presentation also will be shown.
In the March election, the district asked voters to
approve a 45-cent tax-rate increase in the education
fund. The referendum failed by nine votes, and the board
cut 19 programs afterward.
If this referendum passes, the board will use the
money to offset a $361,000 deficit in the education fund
and reinstate some lost programs, including reopening
the library, producing a yearbook, and reinstating
summer school and summer art enrichment.
Murphy said Thursday's meeting will be the last time
the public can ask the board questions before the
election. No other meeting is scheduled between Thursday
and Nov. 2. She said if a question cannot be answered at
the meeting, the board will take names and phone
numbers, and telephone residents when they find the
answer.
Taxpayers will be asked to approve an increase to the
education fund rate from $1.82 to $2.40 per $100
equalized assessed value. Even though the maximum rate
is $1.82, taxpayers do not pay that because of the tax
cap.
For example, because of the tax cap, the
education-fund tax rate for those paying District 36
taxes was $1.37 per $100 equalized assessed value on the
latest tax bills. The owner of a $200,000 house who
claims the $5,000 homestead exemption would pay about
$357.67 more to the district in the first year.
"We're optimistic in that the last election was
close," Murphy said of the referendum. "And we pray we
can capture the votes we need to pass this
referendum."
