PERRYVILLE SCHOOL BALLOT ISSUES LIKELY IN APRIL

PERRYVILLE -- Voters in Perryville School District likely will be asked to approve a number of issues at the polls April 4 to fund a three-phase plan for new construction, building upgrades and maintenance, staff salaries and reinstatement of a driver education program.

Board of Education President Dennis Martin said the district's long-range planning committee recommended a 79-cent increase in property taxes to raise money for various projects. If approved, the levy would increase to $3.49.

The tax increases would require as many as three majority votes in April to include increases to the operating, debt-service and capital-projects tax levies. The board will decide whether to approve the recommendations and schedule the April elections during a meeting Jan. 12.

"At the January meeting I would expect us to approve those issues," said Martin. He said the committee "did an excellent job of finding ways to provide for the most pressing problems in the least-costly manner."

Of the 79-cent tax increase, the operating tax levy would increase 55 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to increase staff salaries. The increase also would allow the district to reinstate the driver education program cut as part of a cost-savings measure several years ago.

"When we surveyed the community, there was a real widespread support for that to be reinstated," Martin said.

The capital projects levy would increase by 4 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The money earned from this measure would be used for repairs or replacement of items, including heating and cooling units, floors, lockers, roofs, windows and doors.

Voters also may be asked to approve a bond issue of 20 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The $5.5 million raised by this measure would be used to fund construction of a third-through-fifth-grade center.

Said Martin: "We are crowded. We have what we call cart teachers who don't have classrooms, we're using converted storage as classroom space, and we are lacking in various technology areas."

District patrons do not have a history of supporting such proposals. A $4.9 million bond issue failed twice in 1992 before finally being approved in a third vote in 1993. By that time the proposal had outgrown the cost estimates voters had approved, and money ran out before all of the needs were addressed.

For the district to meet all of its needs, voters would have to support the project in two additional elections in 2002 and 2005.

In 2002, voters would be asked to approve another 10-cent operating levy increase to hire additional staff as well as a 6-cent increase to the debt-service levy to raise an additional $1.1 million to build the middle-school library and third-grade addition.

The district would ask voters to approve a no-tax-increase bond issue for $1.5 million in 2005 to build a multipurpose room for the third-through-fifth-grade center and additional computer labs for the middle school and high school.

"This is, we think, the best option for getting all of these projects done," Martin said. "We'd have had to have a levy of nearly $5 to address every need at one time."

At A Glance

A 79-cent increase likely to be considered in April would provide:

* 53 cents to increase teachers' salaries to the average of 13 neighboring districts.

* 2 cents to implement a driver education program at the high school.

* 4 cents for facility maintenance purposes.

* 20 cents for construction of a $5.5 million third-through-fifth-grade center.