Northeast Dubois School Corp meeting: Naysayers no-show so far

Northeast Dubois School Superintendent Bill Hochgesang is waiting to hear from the other side of the aisle in regards to the proposed property tax increase being sought by the budget beleaguered school system.

Even though the May board meeting saw an outpouring of support from parents and others who attended, those residents who were opposed to the property tax increase didn’t speak at the May 17th meeting which was held in the Northeast Dubois High School cafeteria.

He says support is still coming in, but he’s also trying to reach out to those who oppose the raising of taxes. Specifically, the businesses and farmers in the townships that will shoulder a large portion of the increase due to their large holdings of farm land.

“I’m trying to find a down-time for all those farmers and businesses where I can maybe call a meeting,” he said. “Probably looking at early August, before it’s harvest season where I can set up a time to answer questions.”

He said he should have an announcement on that in the July board meeting.

Nothing has changed with the financial picture of the school system since the board voted to pursue a referendum to raise property taxes in the four townships in the northeast part of Dubois County: Harbison, Columbia, Marion and Hall.

The board passed an approval to place the tax increase on the November 8th ballot during their May meeting.

The school system is asking for an increase of 18 cents per $100 of assessed valuation over 7 years. If the referendum does pass, the school system won’t see any additional income from the increase until May of 2018.

Northeast Dubois School Superintendent Bill Hochgesang said that things are moving ahead with no problems.

“We’re just kind of continuing on and trying to be as frugal as we can,” he said.

It’s a waiting game at this point. “Everything’s in place to have it on the ballot in the fall,” he said.

Hochgesang has made himself available to speak to groups of people in the four townships on the topic and will answer any questions.

The board took the following actions:

• Passed the Lost River vocational agreement with the Springs Valley School district to continue sending students to Springs Valley to take part in the Heavy Machinery program.
• Adopted text books for the School System, which includes ebook versions for the iPads used by teachers and students.
• Approved cafeteria bids from SIEC (Southern Indiana Education Center), the organization that represents multiple school systems, using the purchasing power of many buyers to obtain lower prices.
• Agreed to a $50,000 transfer of funds from the Bus Replacement Fund to the Rainy Day Fund.
• Approved advertising for the 2017 Budget for the General Fund, Debt Service Fund, Pension Bond Debt Fund, Capital Projects Plan, Transportation Fund, Bus Replacement Fund and the Rainy Day Fund. The advertising date is August 17th.