CLARKSVILLE —
Clarksville Community School Corp. is preparing to host public meetings to ask the voters in its district to vote yes on a referendum in May, with hopes that the ability to levy taxes will keep the district from falling apart.
The district is asking voters to approve a special property tax rate of up to 24 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation. The referendum levy would be in effect for seven years, from 2011 through 2018. The district would voluntarily reduce or eliminate the levy if it isn’t needed during certain years between those dates.
Clarksville Interim Superintendent Kim Knott said the amount due from a taxpayer would be the total value of their home after any credits are applied. She said on average, a person owning a $100,000 home would pay $77 a year, or $6.40 a month.
If approved, the money should get to the district in December 2011. However, by that point, the district’s $1.6 million cash balance would be gone.
Knott said some cuts will have to be made either way.
“We won’t have to eliminate any programs for students. Without the referendum, we’d probably have to look at program elimination,” Knott said.
If it isn’t approved, Knott said the cuts will have to go much deeper. She said $1 million in cuts for Clarksville schools could mean 20 less teachers, 10 less administrators and 28 less classified employees, such as secretaries.
“Those are serious numbers,” she said.
This comes at a time when its neighboring school district, New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp., announced it’s closing four schools. Many people at those public hearings asked for a referendum.
Knott said the timing is coincidental, adding that the issue of cutting about $1 million from the general fund — which pays mostly for salaries and programming for students — was brought up months ago for her school system.
“The intent was that we knew that we had the shortfall [from the state] and other financial issues,” Knott said. “If we didn’t do something, it wasn’t gong to be about buildings. It was going to be about the integrity of the school district.
“It’s been no secret that our governor would like to see smaller schools and larger schools merge,” she added. “Clearly, if we don’t do something to make up for this lost revenue, we’d have to look at consolidation down the road and that’s not something we want to do. That referendum is about keeping Clarksville Community Schools a community school as much as anything.”
She said keeping the schools as they are not only helps students, but helps keep property values up.
“Overall, it’s a win-win for everybody,” she said.
Knott said she hopes voters understand the situation Clarksville schools is in and votes yes May 4.
Public hearings on this issue will be set in April. Look in The Evening News for specific dates and times.
Clark County
Clarksville school system asks voters for tax bump
Referendum in May could save staff if approved by voters
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