A special election for the Greene County School District is less than one month away and residents in the district can vote early now.

According to the Greene County Auditor’s office, residents in the school district are eligible to vote early or by absentee ballot. Early voting can take place at the auditor’s office during normal business hours of 8am-4:30pm, Monday through Friday. Residents can also request an absentee ballot be mailed to them. The last day to request a ballot by mail is August 30th. 

The special election is asking voters to consider a revenue purpose statement to use funds on the state’s Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) funds. Greene County School District Superintendent Tim Christensen explains what SAVE funds are.

“This is not a new tax and it’s not property tax. This is the one-cent sales tax that people pay (to the state) and again it goes back to school districts for infrastructure. We’ve had it since 2006, and again this is just an extension of that. So it is not a new tax.”

Christensen points out that due to the Iowa Legislature extending the sunset date of SAVE to 2051, all school districts will eventually have to have their revenue purpose statements go before the voters. He adds that the School Board would like to use additional SAVE funds to do additional work on the current high school to convert it into a middle school, once the new high school is complete.         

The special election will be held on September 10th.