Dear West Yellowstone School District Voters,
Your role in shaping the future of our district is crucial. Soon, you will receive your school election ballots in the mail. You will be asked to vote for two school board trustees and on the $100,000 operational levy, the West Yellowstone School Board voted to run for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. This levy would be added to the General Fund to help compensate for our projected budget shortfall.
Due to declining enrollment for the past four years, our preliminary general fund budget without a vote for next school year is set to be $5,724 less than our current year budget. This fact, combined with the rising costs in general operating expenses, including utilities, data services, travel for activities and athletic events, maintenance services, as well as the increased costs in staffing due to teachers moving steps and lanes on the salary matrix, was the reasoning behind asking our community for this levy. The passage of this levy would help the district continue to offer all of our current extracurricular activities and provide funds for additional support staff.
If the levy passes, this is how it would affect your property taxes next year based on the 2023 tax base of assessed value:
Property assessed at $200,000- Increase of $10.22
Property assessed at $300,000- Increase of $15.33
Property assessed at $600,000- Increase of $30.66
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Respectfully,
Kevin Flanagan
Superintendent