Voters Accept Nickel Tax for Lewis County Schools

A petition circulated in August caused a special election Tuesday (December 29) to determine if a proposed “nickel tax” will be implemented on personal property and real estate in Lewis County.

At day’s end, the vote results were 1,315 For the tax and 818 Against it.

The funds will be in a dedicated fund for major renovation of existing school facilities, new construction, and debt service in the Lewis County School District, officials said.

Activity at the polls was described as light first thing in the morning but pretty steady and functioning smoothly, said Lewis County Clerk Glenda Himes.

“The change in weather may have helped,” Himes said.

On Aug. 4, the Lewis County Board of Education voted to adopt a nickel tax to generate money exclusively for building construction and renovation projects.

On Aug. 21 a committee was formed to gather signatures of at least 497 eligible voters to have the question placed on the ballot and by the deadline in September, more than 800 valid signatures were on the petition.

Since the tax would amount to more than a four percent increase it could, by law, be “recalled” by voters, as allowed by state law, officials explained.

Implementation of the tax was blocked from going into effect until after the election.

The special election is expected to cost the Lewis County School District about $25,000, Himes said, about the same as the general election in November.

The tax, at 6.2 cents per $100 valuation on real estate and personal property was expected to generate about $289,261 each year, officials said.

The current school tax rate is 41.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

School district officials estimated it could take more than $32 million to bring all the district schools up to code specifications.

The tax could improve bonding potential on the school projects.

At press time it was unclear when the tax would go into effect, because tax bills for the year have already been generated.

The school board could call for a special billing for the tax for 2015 and would have to pay for all of the costs associated with that billing. The board could also wait until the next tax billing cycle in 2016 and have it sent with other county bills.

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