Posted March 4, 2017
This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president. The Taylorville School District has placed on the April 4th ballot, a referendum to increase the property tax rate. If passed, it would be the first time the tax rate for the Taylorville School District has been increased since 1979.
The District announced proposed cuts should the refrendum fail, in their February 13th meeting. The cuts include non replacement of 4 retirements, teaching and other staff reductions, Madrigals, Scholastic Bowl, FFA, Journalism, Spring Musical, all school athletics, music, and art among other cuts by the 2018/2019 school year. The cuts would reduce the district’s expenses by nearly two million dollars.
Should the referendum pass, it’s projected to raise enough money to allow the district to continue with the programs cut. There would be a period of time before the district begins to receive the funding from the referendum, and the Taylorville School District said they would have to bridge the gap before they started to see the funds generated by the referendum.
The way we see it, passage of this referendum is a "quality of life" issue. It was the Taylorville Schools that was part of my family's decision to buy WTIM back in the fall of 1992 and move my family to town. All 3 of my girls graduated from Taylorville High School. Schools continue to be one of the major reasons why families decide to locate to the community.
And, with the completion of the 4-lane Illinois Route 29, families looking to locate in a more affordable community, are looking at Taylorville as a town to move to.
The future of the Taylorville community is at stake with this April 4th Taylorville School referendum. My wife and I are voting "YES" on April 4th to support our community's future. We hope you will do the same. Let's keep Taylorville the great community that it is...for our children now and in the future.
That's our opinion....we welcome yours. Our e-mail address is editorial-at-randyradio-dot-com.