Voters renew $575,000 Shelley School District supplemental levy

SHELLEY — With a strong majority of nearly 80 percent voting in favor, Shelley School District’s $575,000 supplemental levy is renewed for another two years.

On Tuesday, March 8, according to the Bingham County Elections web page, 317 Shelley School District patrons turned out to vote on the renewal of the district’s supplemental levy. With only 64 people voting against, the levy easily passed.

A frequent question from voters regarding supplemental levies is “where does the money go?”

Unlike plant facility and bond levies that require funds to go to specific areas of a school district’s budget, a supplemental levy goes into the district’s general fund to be used where needed.

“Ultimately, the supplemental levy makes up about four percent of our general fund,†Shelley School District Superintendent Williams explained in a previous interview.

While supplemental levy funds touch every part of the school district’s budget, much of Shelley’s supplemental levy helps to pay the district’s classified employee’s hourly rate.

RELATED: $575,000 Shelley School District levy vote on March 8

Classified employees are all school district employees who are not teachers. This includes principals, paraprofessionals, food service, bus drivers, etc.

“The State is currently reimbursing us at a rate of $11.16 (per hour),†Williams said. 

He explained that most classified employees in the Shelley School District make more than $11.16 per hour. Because of this, much of the supplemental levy monies go towards making up the difference.

Another frequent question from voters is, “what will this do to my taxes?”

The levy will cost property owners, annually, approximately $73 per $1,000 of the property’s value without a homeowners exemption, and $36.50 per $1,000 with a homeowners exemption.

This is actually a slight decrease of the tax levy rate from .00087 to .00073 due to growing market value.

“I just want to express my gratitude to the community for their support. We’re proud that it passed at a historical high. I think it actually passed at a higher rate than any bond or levy that was voted on yesterday in the State of Idaho. We’re going to continue to do the best job that we can and be fiscally responsible,” Williams told Community Pioneer.