Support for a $1.7 million general mill levy override seemed to be the most popular choice Thursday night as Durango School District 9-R school board concluded its community budget discussions.
“The board has not said we are going for a mill levy,” 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger told attendees at Tuesday night’s meeting at Escalante Middle School. “They’re very cognizant that the airport is likely to be on the ballot and roads and bridges for (La Plata) County are going to be on the ballot.”
But, more than one attendee said, doing it now while the conversations are taking place would be ideal. The board will need to make a decision by the end of April and have the ballot language submitted by June.
District staff members originally presented four mill levy options. The most expensive one, an almost $15 million special building and technology fund, has been taken off the table, Snowberger said, because it was for three years and is generally used for a specific project. That leaves the possibility of the general override and levies to fund full-day kindergarten, which the state reimburses only at five-eighths of a day, and the difference between the $300,000 the state reimburses for transportation and the almost $1.3 million it costs the district.
After his presentation, the group separated into discussion groups. One felt the kindergarten and transportation mill levy overrides are so specific they might appeal only to certain voters, making the general override preferable to the general population.
“Whatever the district decides,” said Laura Galido, executive director of the 9-R Human Resources Department, at the meeting Thursday at Miller Middle School, “it needs to be tangible, trackable and accountable.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
