(Sibley) (KIWA)– Voters in the Sibley-Ocheyedan Community School District will be going to the polls on Tuesday, and proponents of the issue hope the third time is the charm. Superintendent Stan DeZeeuw says they’ll be voting on a physical plant and equipment levy that has failed in a couple of previous elections…
“And we’re proposing to renew and extend the voted PPEL that was passed 10 years ago and expires at the end of this year. It was at the rate of 67 cents. We’re asking the public to renew that for another 10 years but we’re asking for the rate to be increased from 67 cents to a dollar. We had previously tried this twice last fall and it failed both times. We were asking to go to $1.34. This time, we’re asking the voting public to approve this for the next 10 years at one dollar.”
DeZeeuw says the increase over the present rate is needed to help meet inflation…
“Number one, just comparison. If you look at a lot of the schools in our area, they’re at the full $1.34, so at a comparison standpoint we’re just asking to go to a dollar on this vote. It’s used to fund a lot of important infrastructure and school facility updates. That’s all it can be used for. It’s not for staffing, it’s not for salaries. Right now in our facility, I think we have some great facilities, but our middle school is the newest built facility in 1980. The elementary’s had some additions and updates since then but the other buildings are older than 1980. So we want to maintain those and use those as a benefit to our taxpayers and PPEL is an important piece of that. And we all know what the costs have done for construction or any work on any utilities in the last 10 years and trying to predict that for the next 10 years is difficult but we know those costs are going up and the dollar amount we received if you look back is roughly the same over the last 10 years even though the inflationary rates and costs have changed, so we’re just looking to increase that to a dollar so we can maximize the benefit for the taxpayers and also maximize the use of those funds to keep our facilities up to date for years to come.”
DeZeeuw emphasizes that if this measure doesn’t pass, it does NOT mean that the rate will stay at 67 cents per thousand. He says if it fails, they get nothing.
(Courtesy Community First Broadcasting station KIWA in Sheldon)
