D-165’s 3rd time a charm?

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MARENGO – The first one was 53 cents. The second, down to 48.

This time around, the Marengo-Union District 165 school board will be requesting a 15½-cent increase to the local property tax rate – with a twist.

Instead of similar failed questions asking taxpayers for hikes related to the traditional limiting rate, board members are looking to increase the debt-service base. February 2010 will mark the elementary district’s third referendum attempt in two years.

The school board voted, 6-1, on Tuesday to try again, despite some members’ concerns that the economy might not improve in enough time to increase community support.

Board member Scott Fillmore, the lone dissenting vote, argued that it would be more feasible to wait until November 2010.

If not, he said this winter could translate to “three strikes.”

“It’s already failed twice,” Fillmore told the board. “Are people going to listen?”

However, newly sworn-in board member Karen Boxleitner and the rest of the board approved of the timing.

“I think inaction is not an option for us at this point,” board member John Wyrostek said. “We need to do something.”

The district’s current debt-service extension base is $180,000, Superintendent Lea Damisch said. The temporary rate increase would allow the district to bring in $500,000 more in working cash by selling bonds over several years.

Should the referendum pass, Damisch said, she anticipates the district would regain some extra class sections and a fine-arts specialist at Locust Elementary School, as well as a few extracurricular activities at Marengo Community Middle School.

Without applying the homestead exemption, a successful referendum would equate to about a $50 increase in annual property taxes for the owner of a $100,000 home, Damisch added.

The most recent referendum loss in April resulted in the elimination of all sports, clubs, band and choir – among other cuts and jumps in class sizes – for the district’s 1,200 students.

Salary increases for all five administrators also were frozen this year in light of the district’s $2.5 million budget deficit.

District 165 has the lowest property tax rate of all elementary schools in McHenry County and the only one less than $2.

What’s next

The District 165 school board will be filing a formal question by late November for a 15 1/2-cent increase to the local property tax rate. The referendum would then be on the February 2010 primary ballot.

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