The Festus R-6 School District will ask voters April 2 to pass a 59-cent tax levy increase to fund the construction of a performing arts center, security upgrades and other improvements.
Proposition F requires a simple majority to pass. If approved, district residents would see their property tax rate rise from $3.7462 to $4.336 per $100 assessed valuation.
In addition to the performing arts center and other improvements that would be tackled right away, revenue from the increase eventually would be used to build a community activities center with 2,000 to 2,250 seats, school officials said.
The tax increase would cost the owner of a home valued at $150,000 by the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office about $168.15 a year in additional taxes, which are charged at 19 percent.
There also would be an impact to personal property taxes, which are charged at 33 percent.
Festus Superintendent Link Luttrell said the increase would bring in approximately $1.5 million more a year for the district.
He said those funds are needed to fund important improvements that would benefit and protect students, staff and community members.
However, the leaders of a group opposed to the measure say they don’t support the construction of a performing arts center and some of the other proposed improvements. They also say they don’t believe the district should make improvements that can’t be paid for with existing funds.
Luttrell said the Festus district has the lowest overall school tax rate among all 11 public school districts in the county and needs the tax increase to handle the needs of a growing community.
Even if the proposition passes, Luttrell said, the Festus district’s tax rate would remain at the bottom of county public school districts.
“The amount of 59 cents is what is needed to keep the district competitive in all essential areas associated with facilities, technology, security, staffing and programming,” Luttrell said. “Festus R-6 is not asking to be at the median tax rate or wanting to be near the top. Festus R-6 is only asking for what is needed, and the 59 cents is what is needed.”
Despite the low tax rate, Luttrell said, Festus R-6 students excel academically, usually scoring at or near the top in MAP testing among students across the county.
Proposed projects
The immediate big-ticket items that would be funded through the tax increase include the performing arts center with 700 to 800 seats, which would be built next to the new high school annex that houses the band room currently under construction, he said.
“The new band room was designed and built with the idea of being able to expand off of the structure into a new performing arts center,” Luttrell said.
The estimated cost of the performing arts center is $8 million to $12 million, depending on how much rock has to be removed during construction, he said.
Luttrell said the idea to build a performing arts center sprang from surveys patrons completed over the past five years.
“The centerpiece of this ballot proposition initially will be the performing arts center, which will require 80- to 85-percent of the levy increase to fund the construction and pay back over a period of 15 to 20 years,” he said. “The idea of a performing arts center has been percolating for several years, but as our fine arts programs – in particular instrumental music, vocal music and drama – continue to grow and expand, the support for building a center for our students to perform has grown.”
Luttrell said the tax increase also would provide funding for other projects that would be completed right away, including:
■ Adding two school resource officers so the district could have one officer at each of its four school buildings.
■ Reconfiguring the student drop-off and pick-up areas at the elementary and intermediate schools to address traffic congestion on Mid-Meadow Lane in mornings and afternoons. He indicated the bus drop/load zone would be moved to the west side of the elementary and the parent drop-off/pick-up would be relocated to the back of the building.
■ Upgrading, adding and replacing technology and infrastructure on an annual basis, including expanding the district’s 1-to-1 laptop computer initiative, which currently only provides a laptop for every student in grades seven through 12.
■ Replacing the heating and cooling system at Festus Intermediate.
■ Providing funding for the district to add classroom space as needed.
■ Increasing classified staff salaries to meet a Missouri constitutional amendment approved by voters that sets a minimum wage of $12 per hour for public sector jobs over the next few years.
After those initial projects are completed, Luttrell said plans call for the following improvements:
■ Construction of a 42,000-square-foot community activities center, which would be built in what is known as “the practice field” on ground in back of and below the high school. The estimated price is $8 million to $10 million.
“We would start construction during the 2022-2023 school year on the community activities center,” Luttrell said.
■ Implementation of an Early Childhood Education program for children ages 3 and 4.
Opposition
Festus School District residents Dennis Handrahan and Mavis Witte say they support a couple of the improvements covered under Proposition F, but only those improvements that could be paid for out of the district’s existing funding.
“They definitely can add the extra security,” Handrahan said. “We’re definitely not opposed to that. The entrance and the egress, they could do that not very expensively. They could do that without any more money.”
Witte and Handrahan, who urge district residents to vote against the proposition, said the construction of a performing arts center is unnecessary, particularly in light of the district’s nearly $5 million in recently completed renovations to the football stadium, funded through a 2017 ballot measure.
“Not after what they did with the football field, the way they Cadillaced it,” Handrahan said. “It’s nice, but is it necessary?”
Witte criticized the location proposed for the performing arts center, saying there wouldn’t be enough room for parking there.
“That’s an 800-seat theater. You’d have a minimum of 400 automobiles,” she said. “Where are they going to put them? They don’t need to be doing it.”
Witte and Handrahan say they feel they represent many voters, but could not say how many people are part of their opposition effort.
“There are a lot, even a lot more since we put signs up,” Witte said.
She said the area’s growth should be providing enough funding for the district through existing taxes.
“They have the money now due to assessed valuation,” she said.