The West Liberty-Salem School District seeks renewal of 50-year-old permanent improvement renewal levy on the Nov. 5 election.
The five-year 1.5-mill levy generates approximately $155,000 per year and was first passed in 1969. It expires at the end of this year.
The levy is not to be used towards the field house project, employee salaries or benefits and costs the average taxpayer $46 per year, according to information from the the school district.
A permanent improvement project is an item or initiative that has a five year life-span or longer. Permanent improvement levy dollars help support maintenance and repair of school property; acquisition of school busses; purchasing equipment including computers and technology, instruction materials, textbooks and school furnishings.
School officials assert the levy dollars make up the difference between what the state funding payouts and what it actually costs to operate public schools. State allocations and federal funding provide only a portion of the local dollars needed to operate a public school.
Permanent improvement levies like these fund necessary long-term projects, school officials said.