The Bowling Green City Schools Board of Education has taken the next step to put a tax issue on the ballot for a new $70 million high school.

At the June 21 board of education meeting, members unanimously approved a resolution declaring the necessity to submit an income tax and bond issue to the voters in November.

The board also requested approval to issue bonds not to exceed $49 million to pay a portion of the cost of the new school.

Treasurer Cathy Schuller confirmed the $49 million is the amount that will be raised through a property tax.

The school board earlier this month unanimously decided to place the bond issue and a 0.5% income tax on the November ballot.

The two issues will collect $70 million over 30 years. It is a split of 70% property tax and 30% income tax.

A 3.9-mill property tax will be needed for 30 years with the 0.5% income tax increase for seven years.

Calculations show the property tax would cost $136.39 annually for the owner of a home valued at $100,000. Someone with the district’s median income of $66,215 would pay $331 a year in income tax.

The income tax would end after seven years, leaving just the property tax collection. There is a maintenance fund built into the income tax collection.

A district facilities advisory committee recommended a new high school at a community forum in March. Ninety-five percent of the committee, which started meeting last summer, agreed that building a new high school was the way to go.

It could be built to the west of the existing building.

In March, Fanning Howey architects gave an estimate of $48.2 million to $58 million to build a new high school, but the cost skyrocketed due to economic pressures and the increased cost of construction material and labor.