Cd'A district certifies levy

COEUR d'ALENE - By a unanimous vote, school board members in Coeur d'Alene decided Thursday to certify an emergency levy that will generate an additional $450,000 in local property tax revenue for the district.

The school trustees could have sought an emergency levy of $545,465, but after nearly two hours of deliberation and a failed motion put forth by trustees Tom Hamilton and Terri Seymour, they decided by a 5-0 vote to go with a lesser amount.

"I see it as being right in the middle of what Mr. Hamilton and Mrs. Seymour wanted (a $350,000 emergency levy) and the maximum that we can take," said Trustee Dave Eubanks. "I see it as a nice compromise."

The elective taxing authority was granted through a state law that allows boards in growing districts to seek property tax relief at the start of each school year, without voter approval, to cover the costs of educating additional students for whom the district is not yet receiving a state appropriation. Emergency levy eligibility is determined by comparing the average daily attendance of the first three days of school with the previous year's numbers.

This year, 127 more students showed up for the first few days of school, with an average daily attendance of 10,173.

Before the trustees reached their decision, Superintendent Matt Handelman and Chief Operating Officer Wendell Wardell presented the board with a $660,000 list of funding needs the emergency levy dollars could be used for.

"We tried to keep the items here as close to the kids as possible," Handelman said.

But it wasn't close enough for the trustees. The general consensus during their deliberation was that the bulk of the emergency levy money should be used to pay for a kindergarten teacher, an additional elementary specialist, additional staff at the middle and high schools, classroom aides and curricular materials, and not for an assistant principal or to start a new Core Knowledge program.

Handelman said that while the district has many needs, he would support a board decision to seek less than the full $545,465 in local property tax dollars for which the district was eligible.

"I think it would be showing good will to the taxpayers," Handelman said.

The emergency levy is expected to cost property owners 6.9 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value. It's estimated that the owner of a home with $200,000 of taxable assessed value (before any homeowner's exemption is applied) will pay an additional $13.76 in property taxes this year.

John Rubert, a district property owner, was the only member of the public who chose to speak to the board on Thursday. Rubert said he opposed any emergency levy, stating the budget was already bloated with salary and benefits negotiated by the teachers union.

"I have a $400,000 house and I'm paying over $800 in levies per year," Rubert said. "I think we have to work within the budget we have."