NAMPA, Idaho — After a two-year, $12,075,000 supplemental levy failed in November, the Nampa School District board of trustees voted 4-1 Tuesday to put a larger two-year supplemental levy of $12,895,000 on the ballot in March.
The Idaho Press reports board member Mandy Simpson proposed the higher levy amount to pay for building maintenance. She also recommended the district lower its general obligation bond payment from about $10 million to $8 million. This would put the total funds the district will collect next year to about $21 million. This year, the district collected about $25 million, according to district officials.
In the Nov. 5 election, the $12 million levy, which needed a simple majority to pass, failed by just 10 votes. The levy got 3,744 “no” votes, or 50.07%, and 3,734 “yes” votes, or 49.93%.
The board had to make a decision for the March election by January. The levy will be on the ballot at the March 10 election, and still needs a simple majority to pass.
The levy would have helped the district maintain existing programs and services, support operational costs, maintain certificated teaching positions, upgrade playgrounds and buildings, update technology and curriculum, and support an annual independent audit, according to the district’s website.
Without the levy revenue, budget cuts would be necessary, district spokeswoman Kathleen Tuck said. A district document explained that without the levy the district would have to delay existing maintenance needs, pause the update of safety and security tools, increase class sizes, and forego preschool expansion plans or reduce all-day kindergarten options, along with several other consequences.
The supplemental levy would make the tax rate $3.35 per $1,000 of taxable value.
Board member Kim Rost was the sole dissenting vote against putting the $12.8 million levy on the ballot in March. She said she was against the levy being higher than what the district previously asked.
“I’m nervous to go after something so high, when we’ve got so much at risk,” Rost said.
Several board members pointed out that with the lower bond payment, the district would collect less money than it did this year.
At the board’s last meeting last week, Nampa residents weighed in and encouraged the district to put the levy back on the ballot and encouraged officials to improve communication about how the levy failing would impact the school district.
“How many teachers will be lost if that levy does not pass?” Lisa Hendricks, Nampa High School Booster Club president, said at last week’s meeting. “How does the levy directly help out schools?”
During Tuesday’s meeting, most board members said they heard similar comments from residents, who said they supported the levy, yet were unsure how the funding would be used.
An online survey that was open to the public about the levy, which received 119 responses, saw about a third of the respondents were not clear on what the levy funding would pay for prior to the Nov. 5 election. Nearly half the respondents were not aware the levy would replace an existing levy.
The current $9.4 million-per-year supplemental levy expires June 30, 2020. Voters had supported the district’s supplemental levies since 2009.
The district asked the participants to recommend how the district should move forward following the levy’s failure. The most common suggestion the district received was that the district should put the levy back on the ballot. Several others suggested district officials improve communication regarding how the levy would be used.
Superintendent Paula Kellerer said the plan moving forward if the levy passes is that the district would attempt to renew the supplemental levy in 2021, likely also at about $12 million. Then in 2022, she said the district should pursue an $80 million bond.
Kellerer said the $80 million is a very tentative figure, and that the bond would likely support building improvements or replacements at Nampa High School.
Latino Affairs and Canyon County reporter Rachel Spacek contributed to this report.
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