Ballots for two school bond measures should be in mail boxes by Monday. Those ballots are due on May 15.
Voters will decide on a $19 million bond and a $4 million bond to cover repairs and reconstruction in each District 55 school building. The larger bond focuses primarily on school facilities, while the smaller bond is aimed at primarily athletic facilities that share use with community members.
The combined price of the bonds would be $2.24 per $1,000 of property value from year four through 30 of the bond. The first three years, the rate is higher to pay interest stacked at the front end of the term of the bond. The combined rate would start at $2.57 per $1,000 dropping over the next three years.
School officials anticipate that the final rate estimate is slightly higher than what will really happen because portions of the larger bond will not be levied or spent should the smaller bond be approved as well. The two bonds have some work that overlaps. For example, the larger bond includes some $267,000 in swimming pool repairs that will not be necessary should the smaller bond pass with its proposed construction of a new pool.
In addition, interest rates should be more favorable by the time the district sells bonds, possibly by the end of June, Supt. Bill Hampton said.
These two bond requests have built-in accountability measures, Supt. Hampton said. All the money raised from the bond will stay in the Sweet Home School District and be used to help improve each school. Money from the bond will not be used for employee salaries or benefits.
“A community oversight committee will work with the school board to ensure that spending of bond money is consistent with voter approved projects and that the school board is accountable to district taxpayers,” Supt. Hampton said.
Work on projects would begin this summer, Supt. Hampton said, although larger projects, such as the high school, would take more time. Many of the projects can be completed during the school year, but some, such as waterline projects, would need to be done during the summer.
The largest project proposed in the bond is the demolition of major portions of the high school, which requires the majority of maintenance work each year. Including work planned in the auditorium, that project will cost $11.7 million.
If the bond passes, the district likely spend most of the next year getting plans together and going through local permitting processes, with construction starting in June 2002. The project would take between 12 and 18 months to complete.
The area to be demolished, at any one time, houses between 150 and 200 students, Supt. Hampton said. The district will have to decide where to house those students during construction.
Tied to the high school construction is the proposed new pool. If the smaller bond is not passed, the existing pool is structurally a stand-alone facility. The pool itself was built in 1951. The building was constructed in 1958, separately from the high school. The high school demolition would leave the pool intact.
The district has developed several partnerships that will reach fruition should the bonds be approved, Supt. Hampton said. The City of Sweet Home has agreed to pay half of the maintenance and operation costs for the new pool facility, and Linn-Benton Community College will share facilities at the high school.
“That just opens a whole new world for our community,” Supt. Hampton said.
The driving force behind the bond the age of the school district’s buildings.
“Age and deterioration is the issue,” Supt. Hampton said. “When you’re taking facilities and equipment that are 40 to 50 years old, they’ve just exhausted their lives.”
The high school is about 53 years old. Other buildings are nearly that old.
“It’s not only age,” Supt. Hampton said. “You’re talking about efficiency.”
With utility prices going up, wiring, heating and ventilation improvements could help the district break even through improved efficiency.
In some schools, the district does not have the capacity to plug in any more computers, Supt. Hampton said. With plumbing and bathroom equipment, transformers, boilers and more, there are no parts available for repairs.
“Some of them are probably antiques,” Supt. Hampton said. With state funding going the way it is now, there are not likely any dollars forthcoming to deal with these issues.
“This thing was not done lightly,” Supt. Hampton said. It started two and a half years ago as part of a community discussion on the track, which has been closed to student activities. During the discussions, a number of other issues were identified, and a community group eventually told the board it would need to take some action.
Initially, the district identified $38 million in possible projects as community members and board members began touring facilities.
“(The board) pared it down to what hey though this district needed,” Supt. Hampton said.
With better lighting, better heating and good buildings, there’s a better learning environment, Supt. Hampton said. That means better education. “I think that’s the crux of the issue.”