School Districts Vote To Approve Emergency Levies Increase In Students Lets Districts Raise Taxes Without A Vote

More students and a likely drop in state funding prompted the Coeur d’Alene school board to approve a $221,076 emergency levy on Friday.

So, during the coming year, property owners will pay an additional $3.98 per $50,000 in taxable property, said trustee Tim Olson.

The Lakeland School District board also approved a $295,160 emergency levy on Friday. It has 131 more students than at this time last year.

In Post Falls, where enrollment has jumped 178 students, the board will meet Monday morning to consider an emergency levy.

When student numbers climb over the previous school year, state law allows districts to collect additional taxes without a public vote.

In Coeur d’Alene, enrollment is 8,625 and may increase even more in the coming weeks.

That’s up 105 students, allowing the district to collect an additional $221,076.

On Friday morning, administrators were ready to recommend a levy of only $98,000 to pay for one teacher and supplies for the new students.

Then they learned that Gov. Phil Batt is on the verge of trimming the state budget by 3 percent. That’s because corporate tax collections are $40 million less than expected.

A 3 percent drop in the Coeur d’Alene district budget would be $660,000, said finance director Dave Teater.

The district’s reserve fund contains less than $500,000 he said.

Over the next few weeks, the district staff will analyze the budget to see where cuts can be made if necessary.

The board also passed a $470,000 emergency levy last year under similar circumstances.

However, they ended up returning $440,000 to the taxpayers, Teater said, because the governor found ways to protect public schools from a 2 percent cutback that affected other government operations.

, DataTimes