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Woodbridge School District schedules second referendum for late May

Delaware Public Media

For the second time this year, voters in the Woodbridge School District will head to the polls to vote on a tax referendum.

In March, District residents narrowly rejected a tax referendum that would have raised $950,000 for operating expenses.  It failed by only 113 votes (754 against - 641 in favor).

Woodbridge Superintendent Heath Chasanov says the Board of Education has now set a date for a follow-up referendum - seeking the same take hike.

 

"We’re going out on May 29. Hopefully, we get the story out again and people realize the significance and we get more yes votes than no votes,” said Chasanov.

Chasanov argues that the additional funding is seriously needed.

 

"We are deficit spending right now," said Chasanov. "And so part of the issue that we have is that we’re using revenue from past years - you know, carryover money - to make the current years’ budget work. So because of this structural issue, the first thing we have to do is to be able settle that.”  

 

Chasanov says the additional funding is desperately needed to cover increased operating costs, including transportation, additional utility costs, security enhancements and salary increases.

 
Chasanov says if the referendum passes, the average Woodbridge homeowner in Sussex County would see a $70 tax hike annually and the average homeowner in Kent County would see an $84 property tax hike annually.

Polls will be open Wednesday, May 29, 2019 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Woodbridge Middle School in Bridgeville and at Woodbridge Early Childhood Education Center in Greenwood.

 

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.