Teton 401's $7.09M Supplemental Levy

DRIGGS — Teton School District 401 will ask voters on November 3 to raise its supplemental levy to $7.09 million a year, up from the $4.9 million Teton County certified for the district last week.

For a property owner, the ballot puts that at $103 per $100k of taxable value, "based on current conditions," against $72 per $100k now. The resolution the board adopted in August sets the increase at $31 per $100k a year.

A supplemental levy funds district operations. This one would put $6.79 million a year into salaries and benefits, $50,000 into curriculum and $250,000 into initiatives and programs.

A draft levy brochure in the district's September 14 board packet says, "Idaho's state funding does not cover the full cost of operating a school district at the level communities typically expect, especially with projected reductions looming." An increase would "help maintain current programs, services, and opportunities."

Teton County certified the district's property tax at about $6.5 million for fiscal 2027. Three years earlier, it was about $8 million. The levy itself has not changed since fiscal 2024.

Idaho created a property tax relief fund in 2023 that pays part of what school districts owe on their buildings. The district's fiscal 2025 audit says the fund "greatly reduced the amount of taxes levied," and nearly $1 million of it went to the district's debt payments that year.

The county certified about $3.1 million as the district's bond bill for the coming year. About $1 million of that will come from local property taxes. The district's largest bond, $31 million issued in 2018, runs to 2039.

The levy on the ballot would add about $2.2 million a year, more than the $1.5 million or so that has come off since.

Superintendent Brian Ashton told the board on August 10 that the district has "a trifold that explains the increase to the 7, that basically it's a $2 million increase," along with a video, a social media campaign, and yard signs going out about two weeks before the vote.

The board adopted the ballot language by voice vote on August 10. The county clerk published the sample ballot on September 11.

The levy would run for two years, beginning July 1, 2027. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on November 3.

Teton 401 Asks for $7.09 Million a Year After the State Cut Its Levy

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