What’s on the May 7 Ballot?

Olney voters go to the polls May 7 to decide three school board races, two state constitutional amendments to lower property taxes, and a bond issue that, if approved, will update and expand the existing baseball and softball sports park.

City Council/School Board races

The Olney City Council canceled May 7 elections for Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, as Rue Rogers’ and Tom Parker’s current positions were unopposed.

Jake Bailey runs unopposed for Olney Independent School Board trustee Place 3, and Summer Branum is unopposed in Place 5. The Place 4 race pits Jeff Harvey against Chris Widner.

OISD Bond Election

The OISD seeks voter approval to issue $6 million in bonds to upgrade and expand the sports complex east of town. The district will levy a 9.82 centsper-$100 valuation property tax to service and repay the 15-year bonds.

The school board prioritized the athletic facilities after spending the last few years remodeling and building classroom facilities, said Dr. Greg Roach, school district superintendent.

“The classroom facilities are all in good shape now. The board is looking to take the next step and address some aging and outdated extracurricular activities facilities,” Roach said.

The school board recently signed a 50-year lease with the city for the baseball and softball fields to allow for a major overhaul of the aging facilities, which are often the first thing that visitors see when they come to Olney.

“The district has never owned them, so we would put enough money into them to keep them running from year to year, but we didn’t do high-dollar capital improvements on them, and they are really getting run down,” Roach said. “[It] is something when you come into town that helps the community aesthetically but helps us with our athletic facilities.”

The $6 million in bond proceeds will go for new fields and bleachers, press boxes and new lighting. If the bond measure is approved, construction could start as soon as this summer, he said.

Prop. 1

The two constitutional amendments on the May 7 ballot provide property tax cuts. Proposition 1 is a “housekeeping” measure that extends the same tax cuts to senior and disabled property owners who were inadvertently left out of property tax relief in a 2019 constitutional amendment, local lawmakers said.

“Prop. 1 will affect those over 65 and disabled,” said state Sen. Drew Springer, R-Olney. “The reason they are getting it and nobody else is is two sessions ago, we passed a bill that somehow excluded them in the tax break that everybody else got.”

The measure cuts the local taxpayers’ tax rate for school maintenance and operation. The state will compensate for any shortfall from general funds, said County Commissioner Stacey Rogers.

“To me, it’s just a little bit of a housekeeping issue, if you will … it’s nothing to be scared about, but it will probably pass because it is tax relief for those classes of people,” Rogers said.

“It pertains to the school maintenance and operating monies, but it’s guaranteed that the state is going to put the difference into the funds to fund the schools,” Rogers said. “It’s been reported that it’s going to cost $744 million within the next three years. But they think they’ve got the money, and they are going to put it into the school systems.”

Prop. 2

Proposition 2 increases the homestead exemption from property taxes for public schools from $25,000 to $40,000. It will save all homeowners $175, Springer said.

“The homestead exemption will affect everybody’s property tax that has a home,” Springer said. “It’s $25,000 now, but because of inflation and rising home values, we want to raise it to $40,000. Everybody gets the same dollar savings.”

Springer urged Olney voters to support both measures: “Every homeowner and everybody who owns property and is over 65 deserves a tax break; This is our way of returning taxes to individuals.”

He said rising home valuations should offset the cuts on local tax revenues. “Houses that 10 years ago were going for $50,000 are now going for $175,000,” Springer said.

Rogers said the measures are designed to take more tax burden for schools off local taxpayers and return the lion’s share of funding schools to the state.

“They’ve got to get school financing back under control. At one point, the local people just paid about 35 percent of the schools, and the state paid the rest – the last 10 years, that’s changed,” Rogers said. “So this is how we are going to get back in line and how they are going to get school financing under control is, they claim they are going to put more state money in there.”