Proposed millage helps school and decreases taxes

EBEN JUNCTION — Superior Central voters will have an opportunity to vote in favor of a bond that will support the school, but there’s a twist. Taxes will still decrease if the bond passes.

The Superior Central School District is asking voters to approve a 2.73 mill Transportation and Technology Bond. Voters can feel good about supporting their school, while paying less on their taxes.

“We’re at an opportune point to look at a transportation and technology bond issue,” said Superior Central School District Superintendent/K–12 Principal Bill Valima, “we had a 1992 bond that passed and that bond is currently dropping off significantly. So that bond goes from 6.11 mills this year down to 2.73 mills next year, so there’s a significant decrease in the taxes paid locally.”

So what would that decrease mean for the average homeowner in the area?

“If you have an assessed home at $50,000 so the retail value of a $100,000 home your taxes would go from $455 dollars per year down to $380.”

And the reasons for the bond being proposed are extremely evident. As a district, the buses cover 225 square miles.

“Our biggest concern is the safety of our students obviously on the school buses,” said Superintendent/K–12 Principal Bill Valima, “our transportation plan the last few years has been purchasing used buses and that’s not a viable transportation plan long–range. We currently have a couple of buses from the 1990’s actually, we’ve got a 2001 bus that we run daily. It’s got 250,000 miles on it. This is a pretty big need for our community and our district.”

If approved, the bond would support the cost of 8 new buses over three years. The bond would support funds for technology in two different ways. One being security communication and technology systems.

“It’ll bring a new P.A. system so that we can make announcements and everyone can hear them clearly. It will also bring in some strobes so when there are different emergency situations like if there’s a lockdown there will be a strobe for that. Different sounds for fires, tornados, lockdown procedures so just enhance our security at our school.”

The other way would be for instructional technology, which is constantly evolving.

“We want our students to have the newest technology, be exposed to as much technology as they can be so that when they leave Superior Central and head off into the workforce or into higher education they’ve got the tools to be successful. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s of course our main focus as a school is preparing productive citizens for after high school. ”

With the golden opportunity to make these need upgrades to the school and still have a decrease in taxes, support for the bond has been strong so far. That will be determined further after residents vote this upcoming Tuesday.