Higley OKs small tax hike for road upgrades

Jun. 13—Higley Unified School District is looking to impose a one-time property tax increase in order to raise $1.5 million to pay for traffic improvement projects for the next three to five years.

The levy is part of the proposed $125-million Fiscal Year 2024 spending plan the Governing Board approved on June 7, with final adoption set for June 28. Property owners in the district's boundary would be affected.

"The need stems from improving public rights-of-way," said CFO Tyler Moore. "The need to improve traffic flow to come off of the public streets in the town. Neighbors in the area who don't have kids are affected by our schools."

Moore first broached the idea in February of implementing an adjacent ways tax. The levy, allowed by state statute, does not need voter approval and finances improvements on alleys and thoroughfares such as a public road adjacent to district property.

HUSD last resorted to this levy in 2016 and generated $3 million with a current balance of $1.1 million. Moore said the district spent close to $800,000 just this year in adjacent ways money for projects to improve traffic at Higley High and San Tan Elementary.

"As you know traffic at Higley High's parent drop-off and pick-up is hectic," he said. "We've had accidents and a number of different incidents over there so we are making improvements for the better good of people traveling down Pecos and Recker.

"We do have a number of other projects that we are slated to move forward with if we have additional funding, one being Williams Field. That's the next one as well as Sossaman and Cooley (middle schools). We want to continue to enhance these public rights-of-way and make them safer for all."

According to Moore, the increase to the primary property tax is estimated at 16 cents per $100,000 assessed valuation of a home. He said the average home value in HUSD's boundary is $350,000 and that property owners would see close to a 50-cent increase next year on their property taxes.

Board member Amanda Wade said she is willing to pay the extra 50 cents to ease traffic issues on Higley, Pecos and Recker roads. Avoiding the stop-and-go traffic would save gas money, she added.

She said many residents do not see the benefit of these taxes if they don't have children attending HUSD schools but they could be sold on the idea if they know it funds projects that would improve safety and traffic flow.

"People in the area don't like bonds, don't like overrides and don't like to be taxed," member Anna Van Hoek said, asking if there were alternative funding sources.

Moore responded that the district could reduce the capital and the maintenance and operations budgets.

Van Hoek asked if the Town of Gilbert could help pay for the projects. Moore said that HUSD works closely with the town on various grants.

"We did apply for close to $2 million in different grants that would help some of this funding," he said. "We were not awarded any of those in the first round."

Van Hoek asked if it was possible to push the town for support before the board voted to approve the levy.

Moore said the district certainly could do that but he highly doubted that the town would "change their tone over the next couple of weeks."

Vice President Michelle Anderson asked when construction will move forward if the board approved the levy.

"Currently we don't have enough funding to proceed with that," Moore said. "We have started with the initial preliminary civil engineering in terms of analyzing where we can go, what are our options."

Some of the highlights in the proposed budget include:

—No aggregate spending limit on the budget in the coming fiscal year after the Legislature passed a one-year exemption. The spending cap will return in 2024-25.

—A 2% pay increase to certified, classified, exempted and administrators and $1 an hour hike for classified hourly workers.

—$3.4 million in capital dollars from the governor's budget that will go toward safety and security projects and major maintenance projects. Gilbert Public Schools received nearly $8.8 million.

The board voted 3-1 on the budget and levy with Van Hoek voting against it and Anderson, Wade and President Tiffany in favor. Board member Kristina Reese was absent.

Gilbert Public Schools Governing Board also last week discussed its proposed $274-million maintenance and operations budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. It doesn't include $12 million in budget balance carry forward.

The proposed budget maintains salary competitiveness with a 3% increase for teachers and administrators and $1-an-hour hike for hourly workers, maintains safety and security personnel as well as $2 million for class-size reduction, according to Bonnie Betz, assistant superintendent of business services.

The budget also assumed a loss of 400 students. Budget adoption is scheduled for June 20.