EV-W voters approve levy

Voters in the Eden Valley-Watkins School District overwhelmingly approved an operating levy increase Tuesday.

The levy increase passed 528 to 252.

"I'm feeling pretty good," EV-W Superintendent Larry Peterson said. "It's a ringing endorsement of what we do here."

The school district asked voters to revoke an existing $450 per pupil unit levy and replace it with a $700 per pupil unit levy. The increase will generate an additional $221,000 per year during the seven-year life of the levy.

Peterson said several factors played a role in the School Board's decision to ask for the levy increase. Like all other schools in the state, EV-W received no funding increases from the state the past two years. In addition, the state will hold back 27 percent — instead of the usual 10 percent — of the funding alloted to school districts. In EV-W's case that means about $1 million in payments will be delayed each of the next two years, forcing the district to borrow money to fill the gap at a cost of about $50,000. The district also lost $25,000 to $30,000 in one-time state aid payments.

In addition, the school district has cut more than $500,000 from its budget the past three years.

Despite the strong case that could be made for a levy increase, however, Peterson and the School Board understood that the difficult economic situation might make it difficult to convince voters to approve a levy increase.

But with a two-thirds voter approval rate Tuesday, those concerns proved to be unfounded.

"Our people have always been very supportive of the schools up here," Peterson said. "But I guess I was surprised a little by (the margin). Now we've got to do a good job of taking care of that money."