Dist. 300 softball improvements, tax levy both tabled at Tuesday board meeting

With the weightier issue of whether to levy higher taxes on property owners next year in Du Quoin Community Unit District 300, a proposal to spend $51,900 on new bullpens and a storage building on the girls' softball field found little support Tuesday among board members.

Over $9,000 of the cost would go to architect Paul Lunsford. "We're into deficit reduction," said Mark Woodside. "They played this year just fine (without them)," said board member Paul Brock. "This is bad timing to bring this sort of thing up," Brock continued.

The board tabled the more difficult decision of whether to raise the tax levy for next year, asking Supt. Dr. Gary Kelly to bring three proposals to the board for the December meeting. Both the tax levy and the budget have to be approved before year-end to receive any real estate tax revenue. More on Thursday...