Tax option

To the editor:

Let me see if I have this right. The school board is asking us to increase the local option budget (emphasis added) from 30 percent to 31 percent. Since this is an optional budget enhancement, I assume that some school districts in Kansas are not using it at all. So, contrary to the school board’s discussion (using figures from the Lawrence Journal-World), this optional amount would actually be increasing from $414 annually to $427.80 per year for the owner of a $200,000 house. Just when I was feeling good about my appraised value only increasing slightly.

Jerry Sloan,

Lawrence