Comments (55) | Add a comment
School Board to pursue property tax increase for school maintenance
Tools
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Property taxes need to be raised now to generate the $5.3 billion needed to keep 357 aging schools operable, Clark County School Board members agreed Thursday evening.
Their conclusion came after reviewing funding proposals from Clark County School District Superintendent Dwight Jones, all of which entailed tax increases.
Both funding options supported by the board would increase property taxes by $6.18 per month for a $100,000 home for 2012, meaning the district would have to seek voter approval in November.
"We can't do nothing," said School Board member John Cole, noting the short list of options and the challenge of asking people to pay more during the worst recession since the district formed in 1956.
"I'd like to give people the opportunity to say yes or no," School Board member Erin Cranor said.
Carolyn Edwards, the board's senior member, agreed, but emphasized that people need to understand what is driving the proposed tax increase. Students are coming to the School Board with photos of roof leaks dripping into buckets on classroom floors and reports of 100-degree classrooms without air conditioning.
The school district is the fifth-largest in the country and spent almost the past two decades building schools to keep up with growth. Now, the district struggles to maintain the schools, which have an average age of 22 years.
About two-thirds of the $5.3 billion would be used to renovate and replace deteriorating buildings over the next 10 years. Without repairs, some schools may have to be closed should they become unsafe, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Weiler said.
"While this is a lot of money, there is a lot of need," he said.
Board members suggested switching some schools to year-round calendars to alleviate crowding instead of building nine new schools needed at the elementary level for a cost of at least $216 million.
But, Edwards said, that is only 4 percent of the need.
"I don't think we cannot ask," she said.
The board directed staff to start researching the likelihood of passing a property tax increase and begin the process of getting it on the ballot. The district has until mid-June to do so.
Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.
Trending topics:
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Trim the Adminstration...top heavy...top heavy...what a waste of money for people looking to for ways to justify their salary...I offer a solution if the school board fails to take such measures its called RECALL.....RECALL.....RECALL!
...and the custodians and maintenance people that are currently employed are doing what? Isn't it their job to keep up and maintain shools. So all of a sudden the schools are a mess?
If I ran my house like that I could stop paying my mortgage, have the bank foreclose and there goes more tax revenue...
Are these the same people who missed a deadline that would have provided federal funds last year? Why is it that when officials mismanage their obligations to obtain funding from Washington they think that the taxpayers should save them from their ineptitude. The average taxpayer has been tapped out for a very long time. That well is dry.
Better yet Jon,... Have the School Administrators clean the Bathrooms, Mop the floors, and empty Trash Baskets in between Cigarette and Cell Phone, and Coffee Breaks, which is MOST of their day. Cut their Salaries to 1/3, and throw in Free Workers Coveralls, and Gloves. It's about time they started EARNING their paychecks.
Trim administration for a start.
@Peter Griffin,,, I wouldn’t say our native born illiterate problem is a bigger problem than losing our sovereignty, uniting language, and economic independence, but it is a big problem. My spelling and grammar is horrible but I did go to public schools. Our education system is broken for a number of reasons and I am unable to accurately list all the reasons. We could start with parents and continue to add a number of other entities, including government. I wonder though, what percentage of Chinese children receive a quality education? Or are a select elite receiving all the effort and attention that country’s wealth and government can provide?
@JOE C Here is a larger problem. In order to be considered LITERATE you have to be able to read, write, and speak a language. MANY citizens who have been here for YEARS can BARELY speak english, and cannot write spanish. So we are dealing with MANY LEGAL CITIZENS who are not literate in ANY language. After we fix that, THEN we have to address the illegals and our language. Not sure how to do it, but it NEEDS TO BE DONE ASAP
@JOE C Great post!
@ Peter Griffin,,,,Most Americans and immigrants believe English should be our national language, but one ethnic group has worked very hard at embedding their language here. Using a very intelligent marketing agenda to businesses, embedding Spanish here for work promising a huge market and under the disingenuous agenda of diversity and multiculturalism; in truth actually is a segregating and discriminating maneuver giving their ethnic group favorite treatment. What’s sad is this ethnic agenda goes along with both democrats and republicans and corporate agenda of a North American Community and blending of three countries economies. Much of this was started by Clinton (NAFTA) and a democrat foreign policy specialist named Robert Pastor, that worked for former President Carter and Clinton but many republicans favor the idea of a NAC also. In the end U.S. citizens (taxpayers) are suffering and unfairly burdened by these dishonest agendas and our concerns about a sovereign nation and English as a uniting national language is ignored.
@NV7 With all of your insight you should know THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT says we are to teach illegals. You should support a candidate that is willing to get that changed. I am behind you 100% Let us ALSO make ENGLISH the national language. THOSE TWO THINGS ALONE will improve our schools as a country