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Pair of referendums seek tax hikes for District 67 programs, buildings
Updated: February 13, 2012 8:10AM
Golf School District 67 will be seeking voter approval to increase funding for education and to make major improvements to its two-school buildings.
On the March 20 primary-election ballot will be a referendum to increase by .342 percent to 2.401, from 2.058, the amount to be collected through property taxes to fund operations/education.
A second referendum seeks to allow the district to issue $9.72 million in bonds to, among other projects, replace the heating/ventilation/air-conditioning units, sprinklers and plumbing at Golf Middle School, 9401 Waukegan Road, and Hynes School, 9000 Belleforte Ave.
For a Morton Grove District 67 resident, approval of the operations referendum will cost a property owner an additional $47 and an additional $31 for the bond issue for each $1,000 the owner now pays in district property taxes.
For a Niles District 67 resident, the numbers are $51 and $34, respectively.
The last time district voters approved a referendum was in 1969.
The district needs to raise $1.14 million to operate its education fund in the black, according to information provided by the district.
So far the district has cut staff, frozen salaries for administrators and some staff and reduced expenses for supplies by 25 percent.
The Golf Teachers Association also has made concessions.
If voters decide against increasing the operations fund the next wave of cuts would target class size, educational and extracurricular programs, and early-intervention programs such as full-time kindergarten, said Superintendent Jamie Reilly.
“Golf School District 67 has a long tradition of educational excellence,” she noted. “This district has been on the cutting edge.
“With early intervention, you get that strong foundation that helps kids get that edge” when they move on to high school.
The bond-issue referendum would allow the district to make needed repairs, said Jim Fitton, business manager for the district. Repairs would include replacing old galvanized pipes that are breaking down and leaving sediment in the water.
“It’s really bad on a Monday morning,” he said.
Reilly added: “We need to make major repairs.”
The district also is looking to build a multipurpose room at Hynes School, in part to comply with a state mandate that districts provide daily physical-education classes, Reilly said.
“There’s a big need at Hynes,” she said. “At Hynes we use the gymnasium as the cafeteria.”
She noted the district has been able to secure waivers to avoid complying with the mandate.
“But by 2016 we’ll be out of luck,” she said. “We will have to offer P.E.; physically, there’s no way we can right now.”
