Dorchester Times: Crete Faces 17% School Levy Hike; Dorchester Has Lowest Levy In County

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Crete Faces 17% School Levy Hike; Dorchester Has Lowest Levy In County

There is a little bit of controversy next door in Crete.

The Crete Public School Board has proposed a $33 million bond referendum, set for a mail-in vote ending Sept. 10. The $33 million in new spending would fund what is being billed as Crete Schools "most comprehensive overhaul" in district history.

Crete School's proposed $33 million loan from the taxpayers makes Dorchester's $4 million bonded project back in 2007-08 -- for the new DPS K-12 school building -- look like a bargain. Consider that farmers along with middle-class and upper-class homeowners will pay the bulk of the Crete district's increase in spending. But as was the case for Dorchester in 2007, local voters will decide what is the best course is for their school and their wallets.

A recent story in The Crete News reported that if the $33 million bond measure is passed, property owners residing in the Crete school district will see their levy increase from 1.15% to 1.34% (about 17%).

The Crete News story also compares levy rates of surrounding schools, including Wilber and Friend. But the story fails to use Dorchester's levy rate in the comparison. We don't know if this was intentional, but we do find it a little odd since Dorchester Public School district offers the lowest levy rate in the county. (Several experts say Dorchester's levy rate is commendable considering the quality of education, brand new facilities, top-notch faculty and small class sizes that Dorchester offers.)

Here are the current school district levy rates in Saline County and nearby districts:

CRETE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 1.1531% (which would go to 1.34% if the Sept. 10 bond passes)
DORCHESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 1.1171%
FRIEND PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 1.2856%
WILBER-CLATONIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 1.1246%
MILFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 1.0494%
MERIDIAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 1.1201%
EXETER-MILLIGAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 0.9678%

Under 1998 state law, all political subdivisions with authority to levy a property tax must operate under levy limits. For every $100 of taxable value on a property, school districts are limited to a $1.05 levy. However, districts are excluded from this limitation for bonded indebtedness for projects approved by the voters.

School districts are also limited in their growth in general fund expenditures to no more than a rate between 2.5% and 4.5%, based on location. Exceptions to this rule apply.

4 comments:

AnonymousAugust 18, 2013 at 10:48 AM
I want to say thanks to the Dorchester school board members for Dorchester having the lowest levy in the county. I know our school isn't get much if any school aid so its good to see the school is being fiscally responsible. Its a little shocking to see how much more Friend is paying and what Crete might be paying.
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AnonymousAugust 18, 2013 at 7:52 PM
It's funny. Whenever there's positive news about Dorchester, there aren't many comments on this blog. It makes me suspicious. Maybe there are a lot of out-of-towners commenting on this blog or the people that do comment just don't like Dorchester.
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PUBLIC CITIZEN NO. 1August 19, 2013 at 1:00 PM
I'm not from Crete, so maybe I shouldn't be sticking my nose in their business. HOWEVER ... some food for thought:

1.) If the ballots are by mail-in only, how can you be sure the person who's voting is really who he/she claims to be? (I'm told be a respected business man in Crete that as many as 25-35% of Hispanic workers in Crete are illegals.)

2.) Is it fair for Crete district residents to pay for the education of the children of Farmland/Smithfield workers, when all of Farmland's property tax dollars go to Wilber-Clatonia (which has a pretty high levy)?
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AnonymousAugust 20, 2013 at 12:33 AM
Ouch! Poor friend and wilber taxpayers. (I own ground in the friend district) Where's the accountability? Are they getting a better education that we don't know about.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."