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Caesar Rodney School District asks residents to approve tax increase

Residents in the Caesar Rodney School District head to the polls Saturday to vote on a tax referendum.

The district is asking for an additional 57 cents per 100 dollars of assessed property value over the next 5 years to bolster its operating budget and pay for a series of building projects.

The bulk of the increase – 41 cents – would go to the operating budget.  District officials say its needed to make up for lost state and federal funds as well as improving school security, updating technology, and maintaining its immersion program and Ninth Grade Academy.

The other 16 cents would raise $27.8 million to fund capital projects including construction of a new elementary school, an addition at McIlvaine Early Childhood Center and renovation of Caesar Rodney High School that would include a separate Ninth Grade Academy.

If it passes, it would be the district’s first tax increase since 2002. Three referendums since then – in 2005, 2006 and 2007 all failed.  The current plan would cost a resident whose home has a sales value of $200,o000 and an assessed value of $48,000 about $22 more each month, according to district officials.

The Caesar Rodney referendum vote comes less than a month after voters in Milford School District approved an operating budget referendum on the district’s third attempt in two years.

Polls are open Saturday from 10 am to 8 pm.  Here's where district residents can vote:

Allen Frear ES
238 Sorghum Mill Rd.
Camden, DE 19934

Fred Fifer III MS
109 E. Camden Wyoming Ave.
Camden, DE 19934

J.R. McIlvaine ECC
11 East Walnut St
Magnolia, DE 19962

W.B. Simpson ES
5 Old North Rd.
Camden, DE 19934

George Welch ES
3100 Hawthorne Drive
Dover, DE 19901

Tom Byrne has been a fixture covering news in Delaware for three decades. He joined Delaware Public Media in 2010 as our first news director and has guided the news team ever since. When he's not covering the news, he can be found reading history or pursuing his love of all things athletic.
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