Lakeland levy going to voters

Lakeland School District voters will decide next month whether to approve a $3.9 million, two-year levy to fund basic educational expenses at local schools.

The Lakeland School District Board of Trustees approved the levy request earlier this month as a way to keep pace with rising costs of paying for staff salaries, utilities and supplies. Stagnant district enrollment has limited the amount of money coming from the state, said Lakeland District Business Manager Tom Taggart.

Taggart said that the supplemental levy – $1.95 million a year for two years – would help fill the gap. The levy would increase property taxes in the district by an anticipated 35 cents per $1,000 valuation. After homeowners’ primary residence exemptions are taken into account, that would amount to a $20.90 annual increase based on the $205,000 assessed value of the average home in Lakeland School District.

The levy vote will take place March 25 and requires only a simple majority to pass.

The district last asked voters for a supplemental levy in 2003. That two-year levy was approved, but has since expired. Taggart said district officials had hoped that enrollment would increase, bringing with it more state money. That hasn’t been the case.

Lakeland School District enrollment has hovered at about 4,400 students for the past several years. Numbers are increasing at the district’s secondary schools, but not the elementary schools, Taggart said.

That leads him to believe younger parents are struggling to afford to live in the Lakeland School District area.

“We’ve been hit pretty hard by changing demographics in the area. Housing prices have gone up so high that young families can’t afford them,” Taggart said.

He said he is hopeful the levy will pass, but that if it doesn’t the most likely place the district would have to cut back is on personnel since salaries account for about 90 percent of the district’s general fund budget.

More information about the levy is available at www.lakeland272.org.