Former St. Joseph School District Superintendent Dan Colgan is a glass-half-full type of guy. No doubt about it.

“I’m an optimist,” Dr. Colgan said.

Perhaps he was a bit too optimistic this time.

In 2004, when the district successfully convinced voters to pass a 63 cent per $100 of assessed valuation property tax increase, Dr. Colgan told the public it was likely that the district wouldn’t have to ask voters to renew the tax in 2009, when the five-year tax sunsets.

His reasoning was that he thought the Missouri school districts suing the state for more money would win. In addition, he was confident the economy would turn around.

“In five years, I feel we will not need the additional levy,” Dr. Colgan said in a March 7, 2004, News-Press story.

But the school districts lost the lawsuit. And obviously, the economy is less than stellar.

Today, the school district, now led by Superintendent Melody Smith, plans to go to voters in April 2009 and ask to renew the tax, which helps fund staff salaries, utility bill payments and other costs in the operating budget. Also in April, the district plans to ask for a tax increase that would fund a plan to open and close schools.

Will voters view the chain of events as empty promises or as unfortunate, unforeseen events?

“I worry desperately that people will not remember why we were hoping a sunset would make sense. The reasonable people that I know, and that’s the majority of the people in St. Joseph, when they think back to our trying so desperately to win the lawsuit to bring more dollars to St. Joseph, I think they know why we were so hopeful that we wouldn’t need the 63 cents again in five years,” Dr. Colgan said.

Now, he said, with the lost suit and bad economy, the district needs to maintain its tax revenue stream to keep what it has.

“The bottom line is that if our taxpayers choose not to maintain this tax levy, within five years, our school district will be a total wreck. And we will be back to the same position we were in when I began as superintendent almost 17 years ago,” Dr. Colgan said. “There was less than $400,000 in the bank. We were totally broke and had large class sizes.”

That wouldn’t be the potential case if the districts had won the suit, he said.

“Had we won the lawsuit, this administration would not be asking the public to support a continuation of the levy,” he said.

Steve Huff, the district’s assistant to the superintendent and spokesman, said that without the renewal of the tax, the district will be in a tough spot.

The down economy has brought skyrocketing gas and food costs. The change a few years ago in the state school funding formula didn’t really change the amount of state funds flowing into the district.

“That 63 cents brings a big chunk of money,” Mr. Huff said. “It allows us to continue to turn on the lights and pay the salaries and do all those things.”

Nancy Hull can be reached

at nancyhull@npgco.com.