Alpine District panel to have say June 23

AMERICAN FORK — The committee charged with determining the feasibility of splitting the Alpine School District will make its formal recommendation public on June 23.

There are only 19 days remaining until the deadline for the recommendation that was set by the Utah County Commission, which will have the final say in whether the issue will go on the November ballot.

The ad hoc committee has spent the past six months studying the feasibility for creating a new Pioneer School District which would consist of the elementary and junior high schools that feed into Lehi High, which would be the district's lone high school. That area includes Lehi and the cities and unincorporated county areas to the west.

The effort included a cost study by graduate students at Brigham Young University. That study is currently being reworked after some cost errors surfaced following its initial release last month. An initial projection of a 90 percent increase in the school portion of the property tax for residents in the proposed district had been reduced to 40 percent, or about a $98 increase on taxes for a $100,000 home.

Committee member said Thursday night they will continue to take public comment via mail and e-mail through June 16, the next scheduled meeting date.

Comments can be sent to the committee Web site at www.utahcountyonline.org or to the committee secretary Geneel Scott at the Utah County Administration building, 100 E. Center, Provo, 84606.

If the measure is placed on the ballot, it would have to be approved by a majority of voters living within the Alpine School District's current boundaries. The district covers all of Utah County from Orem north.

The Utah Legislature approved a new law during its 2004 session establishing the guidelines for creating new districts, including the spitting of existing school district.