PORTER TOWNSHIP | The School Board of the Porter Township School Corporation on Thursday approved a resolution to proceed on the $34 million Boone Grove High School expansion project under a new set-up.

Instead of the old remonstrance and petition process, for which the project had qualified before the July 1 change, the project will be subject to the new referendum process.

It means citizens now have 30 days to collect signatures to require a referendum -- if they choose.

If 100 signatures are not collected, the project may proceed as planned.

If the signatures are collected, it would result in a referendum, possibly in May, that would cost the county an estimated $40,000.

A rejection at the polls would kill the project. Approval would not only give the go-ahead to the project, it would signal property owners' willingness to be taxed beyond the new 1 percent tax cap in paying for the project.

But that's not necessary, Superintendent Nick Brown said.

Taxing within the 1 percent cap would leave the district with a shortfall for the project of $157,000, Brown said. And he has budgeted to make up that amount through the capital projects fund, he said.

If the project is approved by referendum and paid for with tax revenue beyond the 1 percent cap, that would free up funds for other purposes the district has budgeted for the project, Brown said.

By Brown's calculations, the project will add a tax impact of 61 cents per $100. But with districts' general funds no longer paid with property taxes as of Jan. 1, the project impact would still result in a property tax rate a few cents less than the present $2.09, he said.

Some opponents have said the high school project is an expensive fix to overcrowding at the elementary level.

The project would expand the high school complex, allowing the middle school to be moved there. A new playing field and possibly a track would be installed. The current middle school building would become an intermediate school, easing overcrowding at Porter Lakes Elementary School, which may undergo expansion in a later phase.