The North Butler School Board earlier this month approved a resolution ordering an election on the question of continuing to levy a voter approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, or PPEL tax.
If approved, the renewed levy would begin in fiscal year 2027 and the rate the board is asking is the maximum of $1.34 per $1,000 of taxable property value. The current levy expired June 30th.
A similar vote in the district failed in March and North Butler Superintendent Bryan Boysen tells RadioOnTheGo News if approved, funds would go toward repairs to the elementary school in Allison and the 7-12 grade building in Greene.
“The building in Allison, I would say when I’m looking at that, when we had a facility assessment a couple years ago, we know what our needs are. And there’s some things internally, but one of the big ticket items we need to keep repairing and we started on already is our roof. We have some leaks in our roof that we are patching up according to a plan. So a little bit here, a little bit there. But I think what a lot of people might not be aware of is, maintaining an older school building just keeps costing more and more. And with like the tariffs and inflation, the costs are just astronomical.”
Boysen says in addition to repairs to the school buildings, funds would be used for technology upgrades in both buildings.
“We have projectors that are outdated. We still have pull-down screens with these projectors. I like to replace those with touch screens, like what we used to call them smart boards. Those are three, $4,000 a piece. So we want to keep our buildings readily available for 21st century learning. And to make those updates, we need that voter buy-in. We need people to continue to invest in our schools.”
The measure needs a 50 percent majority to pass. This year’s election is November 4th.
More information on the vote can be found here.
