I hope Solon community school district residents review the three requests for funding that will be on the upcoming special election ballot on Tuesday, March 7th. Your vote will have an impact on how your property tax dollars are spent.
I feel an informed voter can consider themself a school supporter whether they vote ‘Yes’ (“Let’s move forward with this funding request”) or ‘No’ (“I don’t think this is the best course of action”) on any of the ballot items.
Considering the number of times ‘this will NOT increase the tax rate’ appears throughout the documentation, maintaining the current property tax rate ($16.28 per $1,000 of value; 46% of your total property tax) is clearly a district priority. In 2022 Solon had the 47th highest school tax rate out of 336 listed Iowa districts — in the top 14% (School Tax Rates FY2022 | Iowa Department of Management). Is the current tax rate acceptable to you? Would you pay more to fund additional district projects? Maybe you feel taxes are already too high.
Last November 1,091 community members completed a facility planning survey. The survey summary noted strong overall support, yet 33% of parents and district employees gave an ‘Undecided/Need more information’ or ‘No’ response to pursuing a bond referendum. It would seem there are still some questions and concerns among those invested in and affected by the outcome of this vote.
Results indicated classroom facility projects (Lakeview Elementary repairs and Solon Intermediate expansion) were high community priorities, above other listed needs. However, no projects were altered or removed from the bond referendum.
Are there additional construction projects this community would have shown support for had they been included in the survey?
The good news is there is still time to ask questions! An online informational meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 23 at 5:00pm. Information can be found at https://www.solon.k12.ia.us.
Through researching these issues, I have come to appreciate how challenging the financial considerations of a public school district are as well as how district transparency really does give every citizen the ability to make informed decisions.
Keith Düster
Solon