By Mason Osgood

This November, the Norwood Public School district is asking voters to help fund their future. Ballot Issue 5B is a mill levy increase that would fund a portion of a planned matching grant to renovate or rebuild the Norwood Public Schools.

Last year, the same ballot question was narrowly voted down. The proposed mill levy would increase property taxes depending on the type of property, ranging from commercial to agricultural. Superintendent Todd Bissel spoke to these increases at last week's Norwood School Board meeting.  

Bissel says, “For property its going to be right around one hundred dollars for every hundred thousand, businesses it will be about four times that so per hundred thousand it will be four hundred”

That’s $100 dollars per $100,000 of property value, or for commercial property it's $400 per $100,000 of property value. Land is assessed differently, a fee per acre would be taxed, with different fees for the categories of dry land, flood agriculture, vacant land, and irrigated. If passed, these taxes would not be implemented until the matching grant is secured.

The $10 million bond would contribute matching funds to a state grant called the Building Excellent Schools Today, or BEST. The grant, if awarded, would either go to a complete rebuild of the school or a remodel of the existing building. Currently the Norwood high school has maintenance issues such as mold, and asbestos in locations. Land for a new school was secured in 2022 just across from the Lone Cone Library. Local resident, member of the Bond Committee, and parent, Makayla Gordon speaks to the specifics behind the BEST grant and bond. 

Gordon says, “That it doesn’t really matter what way the school chooses to use the BEST grant application, its still going to cost the community a $10million dollar match no matter what the application looks like for the BEST grant. So it's important for us to pass it this year considering we don't know what its going to look like with the state property tax cuts that the legislature just approved.”

This ballot measure, paired with the associated matching grant funds, would be around $60 million dollars to the Norwood School District to ensure the stability of the future. For parent, and Bond Committee member Amanda Pierce, the most important tool for Norwood children is a healthy school environment.

Pierce says, “Norwood students still deserve a great education with the tools to get that great education, the most important tool is that healthy environment, and I just can’t reiterate that enough that today’s children are our future leaders.”

Information regarding the Norwood Public School bond measure can be found by following Friends Supporting Norwood Schools on Facebook, or attending their upcoming informational meetings on October 1st, and 10th at 6:30pm at Norwood Public School. KOTO community radio is also hosting a live off the record discussion on both the school district mill levy and fire protection district mill levy on October 15 at the Lone Cone Library. Find more information on our 2024 election coverage by heading to KOTO.org