By Robert Herrington, Noblesville Times managing editor
rherrington@thetimes24-7.com
Noblesville Schools will turn to city and township voters in May as the corporation asks residents to vote in favor of two referendum questions on the primary ballot. As discussed in numerous public forums and in-depth at the previous two board meetings was the facility referendum. The second referendum residents will vote on is an operating fun referendum, which will provide the district with monies to replace state funds which it has lost the past few years.
1) Facility Referendum
The Noblesville School Board approved its 1028 Hearing and Preliminary Determination during its meeting earlier this week. During the December board meeting, the 1028 Hearing was discussed and the scope of the budget was explained. The project entails nine buildings being renovated or having additions built and one new elementary school being constructed. The total cost of the facilities is $63.6 million.
Construction improvements that would be funded through the referendum are needed to accommodate growth, bring fifth-graders back to the elementary schools, replace Forest Hill with a new elementary, update infrastructure and technology, and provide space for all-day kindergarten by 2012.
With the facility referendum, financial expert Randy Ruhl of City Securities, Inc. said that at its peak, the tax impact rate would be $0.19 per $100 of Assessed Value (AV). By potentially utilizing the Build America Bonds program, which is taxable municipal bonds that carry special tax credits and federal subsidies, the district could knock the tax rate impact to $0.17 per $100 AV.
"It's an option and we think it will save you quite a bit of money," Ruhl informed the board Tuesday evening.
2) Operating Fund Referendum
The Noblesville School Board will also be asking residents to pay $5 million a year for seven years in its operating fund referendum - raising additional monies for its General Fund, which pays operating expenses including teachers' salaries. The General Fund is the where the majority of a school corporation's budget goes towards. It was also taken over by the state two years ago.
The tax rate impact is $0.2115 per $100 AV for each year on the books. If approved, the additional funds would become available in 2011 and each subsequent year for a total of seven years. Like the facilities referendum, the operating fund referendum would come on top of tax rates already in place - after homestead, supplemental and mortgage deductions. Both tax rate impacts would also be the same across the board and costs all homeowners the same amount no matter the size or cost of homes - although amounts paid will be different based on net assessed value of homes (see charts).
Noblesville schools will receive $2.4 million less in state funding in 2010, despite growing class sizes. The district has already made nearly $2.3 million in budget reductions and plans to make more for anticipated cuts in 2011. School officials said that referendum, which would require a property tax increase, would help the district avoid program cuts and teacher layoffs.
"We're feeling the cut already. We've already done a considerable amount of work in all areas (to cut the budget by $2.3 million)," said Noblesville Schools Superintendent Libbie Conner. "I'm glad we're out in front of it, but it's going to make the next round of cuts very painful."
Noblesville's enrollment has increased from 8,172 students in 2007 to 8,613.5 in 2009 (kindergarten students are counted as 0.5 by the state). In the same time span, the district had a budget of $48,303,934 in 2007. In 2010, the budget is projected at $48,133,325.57 - a decrease of $170,608.43.
"The 2010 budget is slightly lower than 2007's. We're not making progress," Conner said.
The drop in funding with an increase in enrollment steams from a decrease in financial support from the state in dollars received per student. In 2007, Noblesville received $6,092.83 per pupil. In 2010 the anticipated amount is expected to be $5,664.28. Because of the decrease, growing school districts across the state are running into financial woes and have to cut budgets by millions of dollars - like Hamilton Southeastern and Carmel Clay school corporations in Hamilton County.
The use of an operating fund referendum is not new to Hamilton County.
In November, the Hamilton Southeastern Schools district asked voters to approve a $5.5 million general operating referendum for seven years to avoid cuts in school funds and to help curtail a $5.2 million deficit during the next two years. The community backed the school district by almost 82 percent of the votes.