By WMBD-TV

TREMONT – Voters within Tremont Community Unit School District 702 will have the option during the March 19 primary to decide if their taxes should be raised.

A referendum on the ballot will ask voters if they want to increase their limiting tax rate by 40 cents. The district says in a FAQ posted on their website that overall, the rate for residents will actually drop instead of go up.

That’s because within two years, the district will be finished paying off bonds that were issued in 2007 to pay for an addition to the high school. As the district winds down that obligation, the portion of the property tax rate that is designated for bond repayment will drop.

If approved, the new money would go for operations and programming that are traditionally funded by the district’s educational fund. Among the items suggested are keeping up maintenance and adding programs like family consumer science at the high school and middle school art classes.

More information and frequently asked questions can be found at Tremont Referendum.

“Somebody who is not familiar with this is going to go into the ballot box and they’re gonna read that and its going to say ‘my taxes are going to go up 9.5%.’ Well, the limiting rate would, the bond rate is going to drop much more than that. So your overall rate is still going to be lower.” said Sean Berry, the district’s superintendent.

Berry also said the increase would allow the district to retain teachers and also provide fiscal security for the district if they don’t get enough state funding.

“We don’t generate the local revenue that some of the other districts around us do, and it’s hard to compete over time for students, for staff, job market for teachers is rough right now. So we got to make sure we can stay competitive to be an appealing place for people to want to come work and stay when they come here.”

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