The Cape Henlopen School District holds a referendum Tuesday), asking to raise taxes for additional operating and capital funds.
Polls close at 8 p.m.
The district is seeking a combined 54.9 cent tax increase per $100 accessed property value - which would cost the average homeowner an additional $153.75 annually.
33.5 cents of that request is for operating expenses.
The rest is to buy 103 acres off of Cedar Grove Road and build a new district office, bus maintenance facility, and indoor pool. Those will be 100% locally funded, costing more than $78 million ($78,622,000).
Superintendent Bob Fulton previously noted a request for additions to the high school, 60 percent state-funded, was not approved, although that is the district’s greatest need.
The high school now has over 2000 students, and any additions to it would also require additional parking and stormwater improvements.
Fulton says the district will resubmit that certificate of necessity for that project this summer.
The district last went to referendum in 2018, receiving 73% approval. It planned another in 2020 but the pandemic postponed that.
