| District 11 renews levy referendum |
|
|
| Tuesday, 03 November 2009 | ||
|
by Sue Austreng
“I’m very pleased, very pleased,” said Superintendent Dennis Carlson, reacting to the results, renewing for eight years with an adjustment for inflation an expiring $6 million levy. “This is a commendable vote by the community,” he said. “This is very positive support in this tough economic atmosphere. “It’s very gratifying to see this strong support and it gives a message to the Legislature: we’ve done our work here, now they’ve got to step up.” Taxpayers certainly stepped up, something Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, recognized as he and a gathering of the district’s administrators and board members awaited election results. “It’s great to see that it passed,” Abeler said. “It reflects on the district’s leadership and on residents, too. “It’s obvious (voters) recognize the value of the good schools we have here.” In fact, of District 11’s 37 precincts, all but four of them passed the levy, one precinct finishing in a tie. “I’m thankful that in these hard economic times our people are in support of schools,” said School Board Chairman Tom Heidemann. “We had some hard decisions to make and we never hide from hard decisions, but you never know how (voters) will respond.” Heidemann was referring to the board’s recent decision to close schools, redraw attendance boundaries, change schedules for the district’s middle schools and high schools and ask for the levy referendum renewal. “I’m thankful, very thankful,” Heidemann said. “It’s a relief to have this over. Now we can get back to focusing all of our attention on educating each one of our students.” With the passage of the levy renewal with the adjustment for inflation, a taxpayer who owns a home valued at $200,000 can expect to pay about $2 a month more in property tax starting in 2010. The tax will be adjusted each year of the levy for inflation, the amount determined by the Minnesota Department of Finance. According to the school district, the state finance department estimates that the $2 will increase to $2.34 per month on the home valued at $200,000 the final year of the levy in 2017. Sue Austreng is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . |
||
Rep. Jim Abeler congratulates Anoka-Hennepin School Superintendent Dennis Carlson and School Board Chairman Tom Heidemann as polls report that the levy referendum renewal passed by a wide margin. (Photo by Sue Austreng)| < Prev | Next > |
|---|