Efforts to build a new high school are in the works and the first step to that process will start next week as the Clinton County School Board will hold a public meeting to hear all concerns on the upcoming “Nickel Tax” proposal.
“We are really going to be pushing for a double nickel for the purpose of getting a new school,” Superintendent Wayne Ackerman said.
The nickel tax is the current state funding structure for local schools buildings.
The reason it’s called “nickel” is due to representing five cents per $100 of assessed value for real and personal property.
In order for Clinton County to build a new high school, the school district needs two nickels.
“On November 14, the board plans to approve the double nickel,” Ackerman said. “Prior to that, there will be a hearing where anybody can say ‘this is awful, this is terrible, this is fantastic, why haven’t you done it sooner?’ … what ever they want to say.”
Within 45 days following the November 14 board meeting, the community has a chance to file a petition against the passing of the double nickel tax.
“Three people would have to say ‘we think this is wrong and we think it should go to a county-wide vote,’” Ackerman said. “If three people file that petition, they have to get 10 percent of the previous year’s presidential election population to sign it. Next week we vote for a president. Let’s say 5,000 people voted in that election, then they have to get 500 names to sign the petition.”
Getting a petition filed and getting the required signatures wouldn’t stop the process of applying the double nickel tax.
“That would just take the process to a community vote,” Ackerman said. “The school system would have to pay for that and it would be about $30,000. The board would push forward and do that because the yield of that could be 28 to 30 million or they just quit and say ‘okay we have nothing and no hope of ever making anything any different.’”
Ackerman is hopeful the community will see the need for a new high school and allow the double nickel tax to pass.
“I don’t know where most people stand on it,” Ackerman said. “I would hope most people would say ‘who likes taxes … nobody, but we can’t keep kicking it down the road.’”
This entire process will take some time, but Ackerman said if a petition doesn’t get filed, the process can start by talking with architects and planning for about a year and two or three months.
Even with the thought of building a new high school, the location of that facility has yet to be determined, however, the high school gym, known as Lindle Castle Gymnasium, would not be replaced.
“The state allows certain square footage for buildings,” Ackerman said. “The state says when you build a building, based on the number of students you have in that building, there are specific square footage rules.”
Clinton County schools are rapidly aging and many buildings are in need of upgrades or to be built in a new capacity.
The general tax rate in the previous year, 2023-2024, was 46.1 cents on real property and 46.1 cents on personal property. Those taxes produced $2,447,901. The proposed double nickel tax will bump the rate up to 58 cents on both real and personal property. The funds generated from the new taxes will produce a revenue of $3,073,122.31.
By law, all funding that comes from the “Nickel” tax can only be used for facilities, meaning the funds can’t go towards salaries or operating expenses.