At the same time, the voters will weigh in on a statement outlining how the district will use its portion of the money from the statewide 1-cent sales tax.

The vote will be on Sept. 8.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day. However, the only voting location will be the district’s new central administration building at 109 N. 25th St.

A simple majority will be needed to extend the levy and approve the revenue statement.

PPEL renewal

The tax voters are being asked to renew is called the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy or PPEL. The ballot measure calls for extending it for 10 years.

It is a property tax of $1.34 per $1,000 of taxable value.

That $1.34 levy has been in place since 2013.

It is added onto the 33 cents per $1,000 of taxable value PPEL that the local Board of Education levies on its own authority without a public vote. Thus, the total PPEL levy is $1.67 per $1,000 of taxable value.

For the owner of a home valued at $100,000, the PPEL would cost $91.97 a year.

District Superintendent Jesse Ulrich said the money generated by the levy is used to pay for things like new school buses, the computers issued to students and building upkeep. Money from the levy will also be used to pay for building costs related to the move of fifth graders from the middle school back to the elementary schools.

Ulrich said the district usually replaces four school buses a year. Buses cost about $100,000 apiece and the levy provides the roughly $400,000 needed each year.

Stuart Cochrane, president of the Fort Dodge Community School District Board of Education, said the PPEL is not a new tax.

”We are not asking the community to step up and do more than it has already done,” he said.

Revenue statement

The state collects a 1-cent sales tax called the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) Tax.

The Fort Dodge Community School District receives about $3.7 million a year from that tax.

Ulrich said the district uses that money to pay off bond debt incurred for big projects such as the construction of the Fort Dodge Middle School.

Having the sales tax revenue available means the district does not have to raise property taxes to pay off bond debt.

Last year, the legislature and Gov. Kim Reynolds extended the SAVE Tax through Jan. 1, 2051. The law that extends the tax requires districts to update their revenue purpose statements outlining how they will spend their share of the sales tax money. Those statements must be approved by the voters. That is what local voters will be considering on Sept. 8.

The revenue purpose statement says ”Money received by the Fort Dodge Community School District from the state of Iowa Secure an Advanced Vision for Education may be spent for any one or more of the following purposes.” It then lists all those purposes.

Paying off bond debt, which the district has historically done with its SAVE revenue, is among the listed purposes.

Other purposes include:

• Acquiring and installing information technology and school safety and security infrastructure

• Building and furnishing new school buildings

• Building additions to schools

• Remodeling schools

• Implementing energy conservation measures

• Establishing and maintaining playgrounds

VOTE ON SEPT. 8

Where: Fort Dodge Community School District Central Office, 109 N. 25th St.

Time: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For: Extending Physical Plant and Equipment Levy for 10 more years.

Extension would continue the property tax of $1.34 per $1,000 of taxable value, which has been in place since 2013.