Floyd, Elida voters to decide on property tax

The registered voters in Elida and Floyd will decide on Tuesday whether to prolong the mill-levy tax for another five years.

The mill-levy tax, which ended at the beginning of the year, is a property tax imposed by the state’s board of education to fund various school projects and renovations.

“It’s not that I don’t mind it, but if it will go to schools, then I’m in favor of it,” Linda Rippee, a Floyd city council member, said. “I don’t have children in school, but I believe we need to maintain our schools. They have to have help.”

Rippee and her husband own property in Roosevelt and Chavez counties.

The property tax is assessed at $2 per each $1,000 upon the net taxable value of the property in the Floyd or Elida district under the property tax code. If approved, the mail-tax levy will continue on for the property tax years of 2004 through 2008.

The tax goes to helping the Floyd and Elida schools with: remodeling, furnishing school buildings, improving school grounds, computer software and hardware for student use in public school classrooms and maintenance of public school buildings, to name a few.

It can not, however, be used to pay for salaries of employees of the school districts.

“It’s something that the districts desperately need to keep up our buildings and maintain them,” Elida School Superintendent Jack Burch said. “I feel like it’s not just small schools. Large schools need help, too.”

Burch, who has been the superintendent for four years, said the state regulates what areas state funding goes to for schools.

“The state mandates what state funding goes to,” Burch said. “So much of the money is regulated for salaries and it can’t go to building repairs. We rely on it (mill-levy tax funding) a lot.”

Dora voted to keep their mill-levy during school board elections and it runs through this year.

The Dora residents have to vote to keep the mill-levy tax next year, according to Roosevelt County Clerk Joyce Fraze.

The last day for absentee voting will be Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Roosevelt County Courthouse.

The election will be from 8 - 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

The election sites are the Elida Town Hall and the Floyd Community Center.