No to Millburn Dist. 24
Millburn Elementary District 24 based in Wadsworth is asking voters for a tax rate increase of 73 cents per $100 assessed valuation, a $732 property tax increase for a $300,000 home.
The district says it's basically asking voters to cover what it's no longer getting from the state. Certainly the administration has been thoughtful in crunching the numbers.
Class sizes without the tax increase could jump to as high as 34 students, only as high as 27 with it, it calculated.
About 23 staffers would be cut without the tax increase, about 10 positions with it. Cuts to arts and athletics could be made to varying extents either way. The district is on the state financial watch list but is not close to being taken over, and its test scores are good. The district made painful staff and program cuts in 2009, but in these times we can't support $732 more on the tax bill.
We say NO.