Trustees of the Maricopa County Unified School District 69 are asking voters to renew a budget override on Nov. 3 that would restore the full $5 million per year in property tax revenue the override previously has provided to the Paradise Valley district.
The district uses the revenue from the maintenance and operations tax override to augment teacher salaries beyond the Arizona state allocation.
Renewal would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $12 per year, the district said.
The override — originally for seven years — has been in place since 1988. Voters rejected a renewal last year, which required a one-third reduction in the current override amount to $3.3 million.
As a result, the district laid off more than 200 employees and reduced the pay of those remaining by 3%.
If voters again reject the renewal, the revenue would reduce again by a third in fiscal 2011.
The remaining third would expire at the end of fiscal 2012.
The district’s GO bonds are rated A-plus by Standard & Poor’s and Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service.
