School district looks to make further improvements to district
By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
When residents turn out Tuesday to cast their vote for the next President of the United States, it won’t be the only decision they’ll be asked to make.
Tuesday’s ballot will also feature a two-part referendum question from the Elkhorn Area School District, part one of which asks for $22.9 million for further improvements to the district and the second part asking for an additional $300,000 annually.
Question one of the referendum would have a tax impact of $8 per year per $100,000 of property value. Question two would have a tax impact of $17 per year per $100,000 of property value.
However, despite the tax impact of the two questions, the tax rate in the coming year will drop by 38 cents for the school district’s portion o the tax levy even with the potential approval of the referendum. Question two would affect the tax rate in the 2018 budget year.
As for question two, Elkhorn Area School District Superintendent Jason Tadlock said the $300,000 would cover the cost of maintaining, operating and staffing the new spaces.
Proposed projects
As for what’s proposed under the referendum, Tadlock highlighted numerous projects.
At the forefront, the construction of East Market Street is going through in 2017-18 regardless of whether the referendum passes or not. If it were to pass, Tadlock said the district has a an agreement to work with the city to move the road closer to Highway 12, with the district acquiring and paying for 56-acres through the move of the proposed road.
“The district’s recognized that we need to have this plot of land and now is the time to do it,” Tadlock said. “If we don’t do it before Market Street is constructed, then that plot of land will forever be divided.”
Additionally, regardless of whether the referendum passes, the district has an agreement with the city from 2003 to pay for costs associated with a portion of the East Market Street project.
The additional green space would allow for additional parking at the middle and high schools,
Tadlock also said Elkhorn Area High School’s James A. Wehner Auditorium has several needed updates. Those include the replacement of soundboards, new paint, an updated lighting system and the auditorium chairs, the latter two which are original from when the auditorium was built in 1967.
“So, when they break, that means we can’t get the parts to replace them anymore,” he said. “We can’t tie (the lighting system) into our modern lighting systems and one of our top priorities as you’ll see from our last projects is helping students be career and college ready.”
At the middle school, Tadlock said referendum dollars would be used to reconfigure the parking lot and traffic flow, tying it into the Market Street expansion and providing for a better and safer experience.
“If the referendum doesn’t pass, we don’t have the money to take advantage of Market Street being right there,” he said.
Referendum dollars would also allow the district to upgrade special education spaces at the middle school to provide life skills programming, according to Tadlock.
Athletic improvements
When the district went to referendum last year, improvements to the district’s athletics facilities offerings were turned down by voters.
However, Athletic Director Dan Kiel said the district is bringing them back around with this referendum because there is a clear and desperate need.
“Right now, our gym space is at 100 percent utilization, it’s being used all the time,” he said.
The auxiliary gym, proposed in the last referendum, would have provided space for team such as gymnastics, wrestling and cheer, according to Kiel.
For the full story, see the Nov. 3 edition of the Elkhorn Independent.
