From the Northwest Indiana Times:
The School Town of Munster general fund referendum passed easily Tuesday with voters favoring the property tax increase by nearly a 2-1 margin.
The referendum question asked voters to consider a property tax increase of 19.9 cents per $100 assessed value to add $3 million at year to the school district’s general fund over the next seven years. The general fund pays for salaries, benefits and utility bills. That additional money would bring the funding levels close to what they were before Indiana switched the state funding for schools from property taxes to the state’s sales tax, said Superintendent Richard Sopko.
The School Town of Munster has lost state funding since 2002, Sopko said, representing a drop of 29 percent of its budget. That translates into $2 million per year in funding cuts. The district also ranks fifth from the bottom in per student funding, he said.
Munster currently receives $95,000 less per classroom than other schools in Northwest Indiana, he said.
Turnout Tuesday was slow.
"We'd have about 30 to 40 people vote since 6 a.m.,” said Amanda Kontor, inspector at Precinct 19 in Westminster Presbyterian Church, 6-1/2 hours into the referendum election. “They’ve been predicting about 100 voters per precinct.”
“Slow, but steady” and “light” were how the inspectors at Precincts 6 and 7 at Munster Town Hall described voting by mid-afternoon Tuesday.
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http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/munster/munster-school-referendum-passes-easily/article_0a4ec9d4-609e-521f-abd1-4120a544c7a2.html
