CLARK COUNTY — Conflicting information over how much taxes would increase should the West Clark school district’s referendum pass still has many scratching their heads, and frustration is mounting as the vote approaches.
Clark County Auditor Monty Snelling and schools Superintendent Chad Schenck see if differently; Schenck has been telling citizens that taxes would increase 24 cents initially, while Snelling has been saying they’d increase by 73 cents. The pair met on Tuesday in hopes of coming to a consensus; they left the meeting still in disagreement.
Snelling argued that if taxpayers approve the referendum, the school board is not obligated to pay back bonds in any certain way.
“This plan that you submit, that is merely what they are planning on doing. It’s not a contract… It’s the school system’s choice,” he told the superintendent.
The district’s 20-year plan to pay back the bonds has already been submitted to and approved by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.
According to Jenny Banks, director of Communications for the DLGF, “[The district] does have the ability to change it annually during the budget adoption process.”
This ability to annually alter the pay schedule, which would effectively change how taxes are collected, is the cause for Snelling to report to citizens that taxes will raise by 73 cents, the amount noted in the ballot question being posed to voters. However, on Tuesday he told the News and Tribune that the district’s ability to determine how much to collect on an annual basis means there is no way to know ahead of time how much taxes would increase; it could be up to 73 cents, but not necessarily that amount.
“People call and ask how much taxes are going to go up. I don’t know. There’s too many variables. All I can tell you is what the maximum is,” Snelling said.
Schenck admitted that the district is not legally bound to the schedule submitted to the DLGF, but says he and the board are “in the public arena… and board members being voted officials, we are held to those standards.
“That’s our intention. Our intention is not to do something in two years that changes things completely. We aren’t going to stray from this document. It’s our driving force,” he said of the payment schedule.
Early voting is already underway in the district before polls open Nov. 7. The referendum is the only question on the ballot and reads:
"Shall the West Clark Community Schools, Clark County, Indiana, issue bonds or enter into a lease to finance the 2018 West Clark School Building Renewal/Restoration, Expansion and Safety Project which includes restoration, expansion and renovation work at approximately eight buildings and which is estimated to cost not more than $95,000,000 and is estimated to increase the property tax rate for debt service by $0.7314 per $100 of assessed valuation?"
The wording of the question is dictated by Indiana code and has been cause of concern to some leaders. Despite the question stating per “$100 of assessed valuation,” both Snelling and the DLGF have confirmed that the tax rate is based on net assessed property values.