Tripp-Delmont voters to decide on opt-out in May vote

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TRIPP — The Tripp-Delmont School District is facing the possibility of not renewing its opt-out funds, which allow the district to charge higher property taxes.

The school board voted in February to opt out of the state property tax freeze again for the next seven years at $300,000 a year. A petition against the opt-out circulated by Delmont resident Kenneth Peters gained 76 signatures, enough to bring the issue to a vote on May 24.

If the residents of the district vote against the opt-out, the district will have to cut $200,000 from its budget on top of a 6.6 percent state funding cut recently passed by the Legislature, said Superintendent Lynn Vlasman.

“I think it’d be very rare to have 100 percent in favor of extra tax money,” he said Friday. “We have this in place to maintain programs.”

The district held two public information meetings on how opt-out funds are spent. The opt-out started in 2004 with the district able to spend a maximum of $300,000 per year above what the state tax freeze allowed. Vlasman said the district has never spent that much.

“The board has a plan to deal with the decline in state aid for this year and an alternate plan if the opt-out were to fail,” Vlasman said. “We’d have to implement the second plan or we have the opportunity to go back and ask for a second election.”

The alternate plan includes dropping four or five staff members, he said.

The student population is on the decline.

The current student population is 207 with an expected decrease of five students for the 2011-12 year, Vlasman said. As the population declines, so does state funding, as each student represents just more than $5,000.

If approved, the opt-out will prevent a lapse in funds when the state’s fiscal year begins in January. The district’s fiscal year runs from July to June.

“We’re hopeful we’ll have support,” Vlasman said. “We had the third-highest approval rating in the state when (the opt-out) passed the first time, so we’re hopeful to have it continue.”

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