Sunday, August 19, 2007

High School Plan Set...on agenda for Mon. 8/27/07 Board meeting

It's a done deal. At Monday night's (8/20) High School Planning Team meeting, the final plan (at least for referendum purposes) and numbers were rolled out. The meeting concluded with the disbanding of the Team. Their job is complete.

The information is slated to be a informational/discussion item only ---NO DECISION---at this coming Monday's School Board meeting (7:30 pm on K-SUN or at the Municipal Bldg).

The Grand Plan call for:

  • a November "special" referendum ("its the only way it will be done by Sept 2010") despite the fact that there's nothing else on the ballot and a presidential primary occurs in February.
  • 3 referendum questions:


  • Question 1: $97M total ($80M for HS, $17M for 8/9 Jr HS)

    Question 2: Do we want a pool? Pool will cost $4.5M (NOTE: the Pool Task Force last fall presented 5 options ranging from $3.0 to $3.6M)

    Question 3: Authorize District to exceed the revenue cap "on a recurring basis" $290K/yr to operate the pool

Note 1: Additional staffing costs are estimated to be $1M /yr(to start)
Additional utilities cost (new school) estimated at $350K/yr
Dr. Culver suggested that, for the referendum, they say something like, "we're going to do our best not to exceed the revenue cap to cover these costs, but we won't know for certain until the school opens".

Why did the existing high school renovation decrease from $22M to $17M?
We were told that Bray did a full walkthrough of the high school and decided less was needed; plus they would not upgrade the auditorium (about $340K)

Why did the new high school cost increase to $80M?
1. it includes a 31,000 sq. ft. fieldhouse with a 150M indoor track

2. it includes the flyloft for the perfoming arts center (Dr. Culver indicated that after discussions with his staff, they feel that (A) it has been hard to explain it [people didnt really understand it] and (B) it was not worth building this size an auditorium without it.

How much will it affect property taxes?
The mill rate impact is projected to be:
  • $1.24 per $1000 assessed value for the $97M construction
  • $0.06 per $1000 assessed value for the $4.57M pool
  • $0.05 per $1000 assessed value for the pool operating expense revenue cap exceedance
  • For a total of $1.35 for all 3 questions or $270.00 per year for a $200,000 home