Chandler voters will be asked to approve continued funding of a school district budget override in November.

Governing board members of the Chandler Unified School District approved on Wednesday school officials' request to put the maintenance and operations budget override renewal on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The override allows the district to spend 10 percent more than its spending limit set by state guidelines. For the 2009-10 school year, the override is projected to add $19,538,685 to the budget. It was approved Nov. 3, 2004. An override is in place for seven years, with voters asked after five years to renew it.

Without approval, the district would lose one third of the override budget in 2009-10 and each year until the amount runs out. But Chandler has a backup plan.

In the 30 years he's been with the district, Joel Wirth, the chief financial officer, said voters have only rejected a renewal once, about 20 years ago. After that happened, a contingency fund was started. It has taken 30 years, but the district has about $10 million in the fund now, Wirth said.

"The problem with contingencies is it takes 30 years to build and you could lose it in a night. That, we don't want to happen," he said.

The district can only ask once a year for renewal approval. If it's rejected a second time, the district will need to make cuts, Wirth said.

Homeowners paid about $57 per $100,000 of the assessed value of their home on their 2007 tax bill to fund the override. While the district anticipates little change in that amount, the final number won't be known until the county prepares fall's tax statements.

"This is not an additional tax, this will continue our override tax," Wirth said.

When asked if now is a shaky time to ask for the renewal, Wirth said, "It is a little bit.

"The good thing is the assessed values are going back down. Now people are receiving notices that their home values are being reduced. That will help. The way the timing of this works, you don't have the flexibility to move this around.

"The good news is our community has been very, very supportive so we hope that will continue."

Last November, voters in Arizona rejected 44 percent of school requests for maintenance and operation overrides, K-3 overrides, capital outlay overrides and bonds, according to the Arizona Tax Research Association Web site.

"That's an extraordinary high failure rate based on normal experiences. The question is whether or not the voter angst is the size it was last November," said association president Kevin McCarthy.

Overrides have become a staple of school district budgets, McCarthy said.

"I think voters need to understand when they approve overrides there's nothing temporary about it. It becomes a permanent feature to the school budget. Fortunately, districts need to come back every five years for the approval," he said. "Certainly the taxpayers shouldn't be surprised the district is back asking for the approval."

The Tempe Union High School District also will be asking voters to renew a budget override in the fall.