For the second time in a month, Boundary County residents will vote today on a $528,211 supplemental levy to keep public schools operating at their current level.

The levy failed by 23 votes on May 21. Of the 1,645 votes cast, 811 or 49.3 percent were in favor. A simple majority of 50 percent is needed.

Polls will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the high school plus Valley View, Evergreen Naples and Mount Hall elementary schools.

Voters can cast their ballots at any site.

The levy means property owners would be taxed at $1.34 per $1,000 in market value, the same as they paid for the 1995-96 school year.

The amount is $40.30 a year for a home with a market value of $50,000 and a homeowner’s exemption.

Other local and state funds aren’t enough to keep the schools going at their current level, said school superintendent John Schwartz.

“This is just for general operations: personnel, benefits, light, heat, textbooks,” Schwartz said.

If the levy fails again, he said, the district could go to the voters a third time, or cut back school operations.

A third option would be to fund operations with the schools’ share of federal timber harvest profits. For the last two years, that money has been spent on building repairs.

, DataTimes