Alton, Mo. – On March 9, 2023, the Alton school held its regularly scheduled March 2023 meeting. Among other items, they discussed a tax levy with details presented by school superintendent Dr. Williams. Voters in the Alton area will decide about a proposed 5-year tax levy, or increase, for the school system.
Enrollment
Adhering to the pandemic mandates brought many disastrous results. Among them is students’ education. While students often were not allowed to attend school in person, others had to speak and learn through a mask. Parents took their children from the government-run system to educate them at home. However, Alton is putting the pandemic in the past.
At the start of this school year, they had 540 students enrolled. By March, they had 610 enrolled, according to the numbers supplied during the meeting.
As parents feel more comfortable allowing their children to attend classes without masks and harsh restrictions, they are allowing their children to return to government-run schools.
Expenditures
The expenditures are in line with the budget. That means all sums of money are accounted for and have been planned for. Alton is in the process of raising the teachers’ salaries. They want to raise the annual salary to $38,000.
The school system is also focused on remodeling current facilities instead of tearing the old buildings down and building new ones.
Levy
The school board is asking the voters to approve a tax levy that would add ten cents per $100 property valuation per year spanning five years. The taxes would remain steady yet permanent after the fifth year. These funds will be used in the career and technical education courses.
One technical education course that would benefit would be shop. Although the wood shop equipment was sold in November, much of the equipment was broken or unusable for students, not meeting OSHA requirements, according to Williams.
Dr. Williams presented details on the levy and said it would make up for the difference between state funds received and district funds. The taxes for the school system have not been raised for 40 years, according to Williams.
This is Not a five-year tax, then returning to the 2023 tax assessment. It will be permanent. One can talk to our county assessor Doug Bridges, about how much more you would be charged if this levy passes. His number is 417-778-7471.
Superintendent Dr. Williams has made a calculator on the site describing the tax here.
On April 4, 2023, voters will have their say on this tax. AltonMo.com encourages all registered voters to take advantage of their duty and cast their ballots the way they see best.
