Forum is held to discuss Feb. 7 PPEL election

     With the Feb. 7 special election less than a week from the date of this newspaper, the Monticello Community School District held a forum to discuss the PPEL that is on the ballot.

     The Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) provides funding for school infrastructure, equipment repairs, purchases and improvements.

     About 15 people were on hand in the Monticello High School Auditorium to listen and ask questions, as Superintendent Brian Jaeger led the forum.

     “It’s one of the categorical funds that we have in Iowa that helps us maintain our facilities,” Jaeger told the audience. “It’s not the kind of fund that helps us build new buildings, but it’s the kind of fund that helps us fix boilers, and buy school buses, and upgrade technology, and do things like that.”

     The PPEL is not a new tax; it has been in place since 2008, and is set to expire at the end of June 2018.

     Jaeger ran through a slide presentation explaining the fund, and then opened up the forum to questions.

     By law, the school board, Jaeger explained, is allowed to annually levy up to 33 cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. In Monticello, the amount raised with this part of the PPEL is approximately $120,000 year.

     The part affected by the Feb. 7 election is the voted PPEL for a period not exceeding 10 years. The maximum amount that can be levied is $1.34 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. Through this election, the district is asking for half of that, or 67 cents. This will result in approximately $240,000 per year to the district.

     So the district, if the PPEL passes, would have $360,000 per year for 10 years. If it is not passed before the current PPEL expires at the end of June 2018, that number would be $120,000 per year.

     One of Jaeger’s slides covered the timing of this election. Jaeger said there were three reasons the school board authorized the election in February 2017, or 16 months before the PPEL expires.

     First of all, Jaeger said, the board wanted to try to get the PPEL passed before any discussion begins on a future bond issue for new construction. It did not want to combine a PPEL vote with a bond vote.

     Secondly, if it passes now, it would enable the district to move the timeline up for a possible bond issue. Doing so, even by six months, could save the district as much as $300,000 to $400,000 on the back end of a $20 million bond.

     And finally, it gives the district time in case the PPEL fails the first time.

     “In case the PPEL does not pass, we still have the chance to reassess, get community feedback, and try to make changes and put the PPEL back up again before it expires in 2018,” Jaeger said.

     Jaeger also explained the PPEL does not represent a new tax; it would merely renew the same tax that has been in place since 2008. He added that the levy would be balanced between property tax and income surtax, and that by law, the income surtax must be a minimum of 1 percent of the state income tax paid, which would be about $60,000.

     “The board thought it was important (to use both sources of funding), because it would give a little relief to property owners and try to balance that a little bit. The same amount will come in, but it will be taken from two different places,” Jaeger said.

     The election will be held Tuesday, Feb. 7, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Berndes Center in Monticello. Absentee voting is available in the Auditor’s Office at the courthouse in Anamosa. A sample ballot is available online at http://www.jonescountyiowa.org/election-info.