Community meetings scheduled for upcoming referendum

The first of four community meetings will be held Tuesday, Feb. 20, as Cape Henlopen School District officials ask residents to pay for a new middle school and classroom additions to the high school.

The major capital expense referendum is the third in four years that district officials have asked for, starting in 2014 with Love Creek Elementary followed by a 2016 referendum for renovations and new construction at the district’s four other elementary schools.

Superintendent Robert Fulton says the $21 million local share needed to build a new 600-student middle school and a 20-room addition on Cape High can be raised with the district’s existing tax rate.

However, residents must agree to use the tax rate already approved for building projects in previous referendums for the district’s latest building project.

A growing student population is at the root of the latest referendum. In 2017, Cape Henlopen was the only building project approved by the state because it was the only one that showed a need for more space, state officials said.

“We increased by nearly 1,000 students in the last 10 years, but enrollment projections indicate this trend will continue,” Fulton said.

District enrollment exceeded 5,400 in 2017, an increase from 2014’s enrollment of 5,075, according to district records.

While the tax rate for debt service taxes would remain the same if approved – eventually decreasing as bonds purchased to pay for the building expense expire – an operating expense increase would be permanent.

An increase in operating expenses is needed to pay for more staff, services and maintenance of a middle school, Fulton said.

The tax increases would be split into two increases, with the first in 2019 and the second in 2022. For the average assessed home, Fulton said, the first increase would be 5 cents for an $11.55 yearly increase and the second would be 15 cents for $34.65.  The total increase of $46.15 for the average assessed value homeowner would not be realized until July 2022.

An average district home is valued at $250,000 with an assessed value of $22,500.

If residents vote down the referendum, Fulton said their taxes will still go up, but not as much if they approve it.

“The difference between a successful and unsuccessful referendum is $27 per year in debt service taxes for the homeowner of the average assessed value home in the district,“ he said.

And Fulton adds that the district lowered tax rates in 2015 and 2016. Low interest rates and construction savings helped keep costs down, he said. The tax rate decreased by 5 cents in 2015 and 11 cents per $100 of assessed property in 2016.

Fulton said a growing tax base and assessments have also been favorable for the district. For every penny raised by taxes, he said, about $120,000 is generated.

Community meetings will be held starting at 6:30 p.m. on the following dates and locations:

Tuesday, Feb. 20, at Rehoboth Elementary; Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Cape High; Monday, March 5 at Milton Elementary; and Thursday, March 15 at Love Creek Elementary.

The referendum will be held Tuesday, March 20.

For more information, call 645-6686 or go to www.capehenlopenschools.com/referendum2018.