Petitions Submitted Against Triton Project
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
BOURBON - Marshall County Auditor Jan Quivey reported Monday a stack of petitions was submitted to his office Friday by Bourbon resident John Glingle.
The petitions contain signatures of those opposed to a $13.85 million building renovation project for Triton Junior/Senior High School. Quivey said his office Monday was beginning the work of verifying that the signatures are valid. Since Triton School District lies partly in Kosciusko County, any signatures the Marshall County office cannot identify as belonging to a Triton school district property owner must be sent to Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell.
Quivey said petitioners against the project have until April 5 to submit signatures. At least 100 signatures must be verified to begin a remonstrance against the project. If the necessary signatures are collected, the next step will be a petition race against those supporting the project. If the project is defeated, the Triton School Corp. would have to wait at least one year before proposing another building project.
The original project presented by the Triton School Board had a price tag of $16 million. However, the board decided to scale down the project after receiving feedback from residents that the tax impact would be too high. The board lowered the price more than $2 million by eliminating the new gymnasium originally included in the project. The plan includes upgrades to the 36-year-old building's infrastructure systems, possibly four classrooms, three new science labs, a new administration office area and nurse's office, a new wrestling room, renovated spaces for ESL, special needs education and a technology lab.
At the Feb. 26 1028 hearing for the project, Curt Pletcher, of H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, estimated property tax impact of the project is an increase of 23 cents per $100 valuation. The increase in annual taxes paid on farm ground was estimated at $1.97 on land valued at $1,000 per acre.
If a remonstrance is successfully launched against the project, it will be the second remonstrance being overseen by the Marshall County Auditor's office. A remonstrance against Plymouth School Corp.'s $29.7 million project, Option K, is currently approaching the petition race phase. Quivey said that though the petition races do put an extra work burden on his office, the timing of the two controversial projects will lessen the impact. "Right now it's staggered pretty good," said Quivey. "That's really fortunate on our part." [[In-content Ad]]
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BOURBON - Marshall County Auditor Jan Quivey reported Monday a stack of petitions was submitted to his office Friday by Bourbon resident John Glingle.
The petitions contain signatures of those opposed to a $13.85 million building renovation project for Triton Junior/Senior High School. Quivey said his office Monday was beginning the work of verifying that the signatures are valid. Since Triton School District lies partly in Kosciusko County, any signatures the Marshall County office cannot identify as belonging to a Triton school district property owner must be sent to Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell.
Quivey said petitioners against the project have until April 5 to submit signatures. At least 100 signatures must be verified to begin a remonstrance against the project. If the necessary signatures are collected, the next step will be a petition race against those supporting the project. If the project is defeated, the Triton School Corp. would have to wait at least one year before proposing another building project.
The original project presented by the Triton School Board had a price tag of $16 million. However, the board decided to scale down the project after receiving feedback from residents that the tax impact would be too high. The board lowered the price more than $2 million by eliminating the new gymnasium originally included in the project. The plan includes upgrades to the 36-year-old building's infrastructure systems, possibly four classrooms, three new science labs, a new administration office area and nurse's office, a new wrestling room, renovated spaces for ESL, special needs education and a technology lab.
At the Feb. 26 1028 hearing for the project, Curt Pletcher, of H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, estimated property tax impact of the project is an increase of 23 cents per $100 valuation. The increase in annual taxes paid on farm ground was estimated at $1.97 on land valued at $1,000 per acre.
If a remonstrance is successfully launched against the project, it will be the second remonstrance being overseen by the Marshall County Auditor's office. A remonstrance against Plymouth School Corp.'s $29.7 million project, Option K, is currently approaching the petition race phase. Quivey said that though the petition races do put an extra work burden on his office, the timing of the two controversial projects will lessen the impact. "Right now it's staggered pretty good," said Quivey. "That's really fortunate on our part." [[In-content Ad]]