The Hollister School District has set the parameters for the
senior exemption in its June parcel tax election, allowing those 65
and older to avoid the possible $96 annual increase over the next
four years.
The Hollister School District has set the parameters for the senior exemption in its June parcel tax election, allowing those 65 and older to avoid the possible $96 annual increase over the next four years.
The district’s board of trustees approved the application during its meeting Tuesday, but still is determining how the exemption will be implemented, said Gary McIntire, district superintendent. On the table are ways to advertise the exemption on the district’s website and possibly through mail.
“That’s something we are still trying to figure out,” McIntire said.
The $96 parcel tax, which must be approved by two-thirds vote on June 7, was OK’d for the ballot by the school district in an attempt to fight state budget cuts and reinstate positions and programs that have been cut during the past few years, including school sports, the music program and library services. If approved, the tax could funnel around $1.2 million to the district each year.
Board Trustee Dee Brown said the board could send out the document to all seniors in the district’s jurisdiction or advertise its availability in the newspaper’s legal section. The official process will be determined based on cost, and by how many seniors it could reach.
“We want to make sure everyone that is exempt knows about it,” she said.
Brown added, “We are being very, very careful about it.”
But the exemption would not be sent to every parcel owner in the district because of the cost, McIntire said. To save the district’s election committee money, the intention is to send the document just to seniors – making the likelihood of a mailer unlikely, he said.
To mail out the exemption to every senior in the district, the district would need to know where the senior parcel owners live, McIntire said. Despite the possibility of not notifying everyone by mail, the election committee is committed to making sure everyone knows about the senior exemption – either by phone, signs or other local adverting, the superintendent said.
“We want it to reach everyone that’s eligible for it,” McIntire said. “Our goal is not to exclude anyone.”
But the election committee will send out a senior mailer before the election to tell those residents to get in contact with the school district, Trustee Michal Query said. The sample ballots, which were sent out in late April, also tell voters of the exemption.
“We are personally telling all the seniors about the exemption,” she said.
And despite not having a concrete implementation process, the district has approved the parcel tax exemption application.
The one-page application asks for basic information such as name, address and phone number. Also included is a proof of age, ownership of parcel and residency. To prove such things, a copy of a birth certificate, driver’s license or a passport is needed.
The application also asks for a copy of a utility bill and the most recent property tax bill.
To be eligible, an applicant must be age 65 by July 1 of the year, and all applications must be turned in by July 31.
To remain exempt from the four-year tax increase, seniors will have to reapply each year.
The election, originally planned to be a strictly vote-by-mail ballot, will now be held at election booths throughout the district’s jurisdiction.
The district wanted to hold the election through the mail, but the county’s head election official Joe Paul Gonzalez informed them they couldn’t, Brown said. When the district announced its intention to hold the election, its June 7 date didn’t not match up with a state-designated timeline for a mail-in ballot, Gonzalez said.
Referring to Election Code 1000 and 1500, only two dates per year are eligible for a vote-by-mail election, Gonzalez said. The only dates where a mail-in election could be held are May 3 and Aug. 30, and the election has to be declared 88 days prior.
“They can’t hold it through the mail,” Gonzalez said.
District officials in considering the election in the spring decided August was too late to obtain funding for the 2011-12 school year.
Consultants from Dale Scott & Co, who are helping the district run the election, were told of the two dates before they declared the election, Gonzales said.
Trustee member Brown said she wasn’t sure what the cost difference would be.
