Petition Drive Falls Short

The petition drive to put the Manhattan School District Local Option Budget on the April 3 ballet was short by 324 signatures.

Petition total 1,151 signatures were turned into the Riley County Clerks Office on Tuesday but the drive has failed.

The School District voted in January for a permanent 25% local tax. The LOB is 25% of the General Fund. This year the General Fund is
$24,971,340 and the LOB is $4,574,526 at 25% the LOB will be $6,242,835.

Superintendent Tom Hawk, told the Free Press today "I can't recommend that (25%) I think a 3 percent increase, to 21 percent, makes more
sense.

The Free Press produced the petition and would like to thank the people who spent time in the cold weather collecting signatures.