Post Falls Schools Approve $350,000 Emergency Levy

Faced with 178 more students to educate this year, the Post Falls school board approved a $350,000 emergency levy Monday.

However, the decision won’t mean an increase in school taxes over what individual property owners paid last year, according to business manager Sid Armstrong.

School-related property taxes will be $4.85 per $1,000 of taxable property, Armstrong said. Last year, the figure was $4.87.

More construction in the school district, providing a broader tax base, is keeping the rate down even though last year’s emergency levy was only $173,000, Armstrong said.

This year, the state funding formula would allow the board to approve a $460,607 levy to pay for additional teachers and textbooks.

“The board and the administration took a real close look at that and determined we could do what we needed to do with $350,000,” Armstrong said. “I think our board was real anxious to not increase the levy rate.”

The district will ask voters this fall to approve a property tax increase to build a new high school.

, DataTimes