Scott County voters pass Prop Kids, increasing property taxes

Scott County voters gave a resounding thumbs-up Tuesday to a referendum that will raise property taxes for a new school building in the Kelso district.

“We asked, and our community responded, not just softly and quietly, but with their true nature of strong support for our kids,” said Kim Burger, the district’s superintendent, who also serves as principal of the existing, 78-year-old school building in New Hamburg, Missouri. It serves about 120 students in grades pre-K through eight and is rented from St. Lawrence Parish.

The ballot issue garnered 76 percent of the vote, with 716 people voting in favor and 225 against. Total turnout in the election was a little less than 30 percent of the county’s 25,799 voters.

The referendum, dubbed Prop Kids, will increase property taxes by 75 cents per $100 of assessed valuation over the next 20 years to pay off the $3.3 million it will take to build the new school.

That means, for example, someone with a $150,000 house will pay an additional $17.81 a month, or $213.75 a year, in property taxes, according to information circulated among voters prior to the election.

In February, the current school building had to be evacuated when a wall shifted in the cafeteria.

Students and teachers finished the year across the street at the parish center and in temporary modular buildings.

In May, just a few months after the wall buckled, the school board voted unanimously to put the bond issue before voters in Tuesday’s election — something they had been discussing at least since 2009.

They also bought eight acres of nearby farmland in June as a potential site for the new school building.

The land cost $25,000 per acre, and the seller donated two additional acres.

The original school, built into the side of a hill, was constructed in 1938 as St. Lawrence Catholic School. It didn’t become the Kelso School District until 1969.

Site work on the new, 22,000-square-foot school building is expected to begin in October. Burger said it should be completed by fall 2017.

“We’re going to build a new school and a brighter future for our kiddos,” she said.

ljones@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3652

Pertinent address:

1016 Route A, New Hamburg, Mo.