Zionsville voters approve tax bump for school system

Zionsville voters passed a referendum Tuesday night that will hike local property taxes to provide additional school funding.

The referendum will increase the local school tax to 24.44 cents per $100 of assessed value, which equates to an extra $239 per year for a $200,000 home.

The referendum carried about 57 percent of the vote.

The Zionsville School Board recently voted to cut what amounts to 17 full-time positions to help close a $2.5 million budget shortfall, but some of those jobs could be saved by the additional funding.

Zionsville voters in November 2010 rejected a similar measure that would have increased the tax rate 29.5 cents, resulting in the layoffs of 21 teachers and counselors.

Meanwhile, Johnson County taxpayers south of Indianapolis  voted no Tuesday on a referendum to decide whether to help finance a $30 million project to construct a new library in downtown Franklin, as well as renovate existing library buildings in Franklin and White River Township.

The library system wants to issue bonds to finance the project, which would be mostly funded by an increase in the property-tax rate of about 4 cents per $100 in assessed valuation.

The 70,000-square-foot library in downtown Franklin would include a two-level, 250-car parking garage.

The 20-year bond issue would cover roughly $25 million of the cost. The library would contribute $1.4 million, and the Johnson County Redevelopment Corp. would provide $3.5 million to help fund construction of the parking garage.