Valparaiso Community Schools' property tax referendum has gotten the city council's support. On May 3, voters will be asked to renew the school district's 2015 referendum for another eight years but at a lower maximum rate, going from more than 20 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to less than 15 cents. A resolution supporting that effort was unanimously approved during Monday's council meeting.
Council Member Robert Cotton says the school system is one of the city's most prized features and he's fully behind the referendum. But he also questions whether a recurring referendum is a sustainable funding mechanism. "As an every-seven-year, every-eight-year phenomenon, there might be an appropriate time for there to be a greater level of understanding on the part of the state legislature that this is not necessarily, I think, a permanent solution," Cotton told the rest of the council.
Meanwhile, the Valparaiso City Council plans to take applications for prospective school board members from February 28 through April 22.