School board addresses questions about levy

Last Monday evening the Plains School District Board of Trustees meeting drew a room full of concerned citizens about the levy request on this year’s school election ballot.

First item on the agenda was to address out-of-state travel for the Sills USA National Competition in Atlanta. Two Plains students, Piper Bergstrom and Teirainy Bellinger, won awards at the state competition in Helena and will proceed to the national competition. The trip was unanimously approved by the board.

The next item on the agenda was an informational discussion followed by a question-and-answer session on the upcoming levy request on the May 2 ballot. Plains schools had asked for a $100,000 general fund levy for maintenance and operations. If it is passed the impact on a home with a taxable value of $200,000 would be approximately $34.84. The average homeowner would see an increase of around forty dollars per year.

Results from the school election were tallied Tuesday night.

Thirty-two people attended the meeting and expressed concerns about the proposed increase. Many of those who spoke were on fixed incomes and have seen their monthly expenses skyrocket because of the high inflation rates.

Board trustee Ron Warren said, “Like you, the school is feeling the pressures of inflation and the request for the levy is to relieve the pressure off of everyday expenditures.”

“We in Montana live in a state that has 70% of it being national forest, and they don’t pay taxes.”

Taxes would be figured out on the taxable value of the residence, not the market value of the property, and the taxable value is assessed by the Sanders County assessor. To view a property’s market value and taxable value, and other related information, visit www.svc.mt.gov/for/property.

Previous levy requests by the Plains School District were attempted in 2011 and 2013, with both being rejected by voters.

Board trustees gave several scenarios if this year’s levy failed ranging from a reduction in the para and substitute teacher staff, to the inability to fund extracurricular activities. The district has never had to do a staff reduction, but has reduced costs by not replacing vacated positions.

Local resident Yola Bitler said, “We owe this to our children.”

The State of Montana has several programs to help property taxpayers. New legislation has been passed for tax rebates in 2023 and 2024. Taxpayers can claim the rebate online through TAP or by paper form beginning Aug. 15, and must be filed by Oct. 1, with the same procedure for 2024. A helpline for paying property tax is available at 866-859-2254.