One area school district is asking voters to help generate money needed to pay for repairs and other improvements throughout the District.
The Board of Education for Chama Consolidated Schools is hoping voters will approve a mill levy, or property tax, that could generate as much $271,000 for the District per year, until tax year 2022. The new tax year starts in Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31 of each year. The amount of revenue the tax generates could vary from year to year, depending on the District’s net taxable value.
The mill will generate $2 for every $1,000 of a property’s net taxable value. For example, the net taxable value on a $120,000 home would be $40,000, which means the property owner would receive an $80 tax bill based on the mill levy set to go before the voters on the Feb. 7 ballot.
Chama Consolidated Schools Superintendent Anthony Casados said the proceeds from the tax would go toward maintaining the District’s infrastructure.
“If the measure is successful, it would allow us to continue providing funding for maintenance of school buildings and grounds across the District,” he said.
Overall, he said the improvements would help Chama School officials provide a safe learning environment for the District’s approximately 400 students.
Casados said the mill levy would not be a new tax. Instead, he said it would be an extension of the Public School Capital Improvement Act, SB9, which voters approved in 2011.
The Act gives the state’s 89 school districts permission to ask voters to approve a two mill levy for up to six years.
“The SB9 is a tax levy on residential and non-residential property at two mills per $1,000,” Casados said. “We need to keep in mind that if the tax levy is passed, it is extended with no tax increase. Taxes, as they pertain to the levy, will remain the same. Schools are an essential part of a community.”
He said the tax has generated about $258,000 per year, since voters approved it in 2011. When you include the approximate $13,000 annual match, the approximate six-year total is $1,626,000.
If the measure gains the traction needed, any revenue generated can also be used to pay for activity buses, as well as software and hardware for the classroom.
Chama School Board President Earl Martinez said the funding is necessary because the District is slated to receive less money from the state this upcoming budget cycle.
“Unfortunately, we are on emergency supplemental funding due to our low enrollment, thus the money generated from the two mill tax levy will not be earmarked for any specific project,” Martinez said. “The District will use the revenue generated for major repairs, improvements/maintenance of buildings and grounds, snow removal, and repairing parking lots. We have also utilized SB9 for classroom equipment, instruments, and supplies.”
Although District officials won’t be allowed to use the money to pay employee salaries, they can use it to pay for technical training that could presumably improve an employee’s on-the-job performance.
This is the second tax the Board has asked the District to pass in recent years.
Chama voters approved, Feb. 3, 2015, the issuance of $8 million in General Obligations Bonds to the District. Of the 771 people who voted in that election, 403 supported the bond measure and 368 opposed it.
The District used a large chunk of the proceeds, $2.6 million, to build a new Escalante High School athletic facility, complete with a red football field turf.
Additionally, District officials used nearly $80,000 to upgrade the playgrounds at Chama and Tierra Amarilla elementary schools and $18,000 to remove the old bleachers.
Martinez said, shortly after the bleacher project was finished in September 2015, the elementary school playgrounds needed upgrading because they created an unsafe environment for the students.
“The district’s insurance carrier recommended we not allow our students to utilize the playgrounds,” he said. “This was due to improper fall surfaces and antiquated equipment. These issues have been addressed and now the playgrounds are open for use.”