BELLVILLE — Hedging its bets, so to speak, the Clear Fork Valley Board of Education on Tuesday passed a resolution to place an earned income tax levy on the November ballot.
The 1 percent, five-year earned income tax will only tax wages and self-employed/partnership earnings. There will be no tax on pensions, interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, lottery winnings or income earned by estates.
The proactive move by the board, explained Superintendent Matthew Dill, is in the event the same issue is unsuccessful on the special Aug. 7 ballot. [The filing deadline for the November ballot falls before the August special election.] The revenue is needed, he said, to help decrease the amount of deficit spending in the school district.
“For every $10,000 of earned income, the cost of this Earned Income Tax would be $100,” Dill said. “Your support of this issue is very important for our boys and girls.”
The Board of Education in March approved a list of ways to both increase revenue and decrease expenses starting with the 2012-13 school year. Some items on this approved list included: Elimination of some positions, sharing fiscal services with Lucas Local School District and maximizing efficiencies (i.e. transportation). These actions should reduce expenses by $504,493.75 annually.
Dill said there is a plan in place in the event voters reject the levy. Beginning the 2013-14 school year, the school district would have to reduce student bus transportation down to state minimum requirements and implement a pay-to-participate fee for all extracurricular activities — both athletic and non-athletic.
