Taxpayers in the Highland School District will vote in a special election Tuesday to continue their current physical plant and equipment levy (PPEL) for the next 10 years.

Superintendent Ken Crawford says there will be no new taxes for the district, “This levy for PPEL is already in the tax structure that we have now. For Highland School District our taxes are $13.06 per $1,000 assessed valuation, and every 10 years the school board asks the community to approve. We’re asking for a dollar of $1,000 per assessed value inside of our tax rate, to continue. It was a dollar for the last 10 years, so we’re asking for a continuance of what’s already in that tax rate, so taxes won’t go up.”

Crawford says the PPEL provides about $350,000 for the district with funds used for various projects including buying school buses and bus cameras, fixing floors in the buildings, and parking lots, plus larger projects like improvements to the high school track and football stadium. He says the PPEL levy can be approved by a simple majority vote and would take effect at the start of fiscal year 2023. He says having the approval a year early is always a good thing rather than waiting ‘til the last minute.

Polls will be open starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will close at 9 p.m. and KCII will provide live coverage of the unofficial results when the polls close.