Mt. Vernon school board optimistic about continuing maintenance levy

School board members in Mount Vernon are cautiously optimistic about an upcoming vote that will continue to inject $280,000 a year into the district's maintenance and construction funds.

The school board unanimously supported the renewal of the district's Physical Plant and Equipment Levy fund in late December and thinks that the public will do the same when they go to Mount Vernon City Hall on Feb. 2.

“The original P-PEL allowed us to set a focus on the future and help build a new high school in 2006,” Mount Vernon School Board President Tom Wieseler said. “As significant as passing that levy was then, this one is probably more so.”

Wieseler said that more than half of the state's districts have voted for a PPEL, a $1.34 per $1,000 addition to property taxes that goes toward maintenance and construction projects. Mount Vernon passed the property tax increase in 2001 for a term of ten years, and district officials think that the increase in property taxes is worth it enough to voters to stick around for another ten years.

“Our schools are the center of the community,” Mount Vernon Superintendent Pamela Ewell said. “People want to see our facilities are in good shape and that we have a good environment for their students.”

Ewell said that $140,000 of the annual $280,000 of revenue generated by the revenue would go to immediate maintenance costs. The other half would be pooled and go to help fund new capitol projects, such as new classrooms at the elementary school or a new heating and cooling system at the district's middle school.