A special election October 13th determines whether the USD 480

school board can raise the mill levy this year. The board voted to

raise the mill levy from three to four leaving Liberal on par with

Garden City, Dodge City, Hutchinson, and four mills behind Hays.

But a citizen petition currently freezes the capital outlay mill levy at 0.

If Liberal residents vote no, the 750-thousand dollars will not be

available and superintendent Vernon Welch says the district plans

for any financial restraints.

“We’ve talked about issues like that,” Welch said. “You put the

ideas out there because in reality, it’s going to happen sooner or

later. If the funds aren’t here, we do need to look at what we need

to do. We have some committees together and with our board

we’ll sit down and see what direction we need to go to keep the

schools operational. We’ve put a lot of money into educating kids.

I think everybody needs to remember that’s why we’re here.”

District officials indicate capital outlay expenditures include: LHS

classroom expansion, roof repairs, fire alarm updates, carpet

replacement, air conditioning and heating repairs, thermostat

updates, and building budgets.