Community Consolidated School District 15 is looking to gain voter approval for a $27 million bond issue that some residents say is a blank check without a plan for spending it.
They pointed to the district’s $55 million in reserves and launched a petition drive to halt the bond sale. They gathered 7,508 signatures, survived a challenge to the petitions, and now the issue is before voters in Tuesday’s election.
The stakes have shifted since, but the ballot still refers to the original sum of $27 million because it was too late to alter it. Now school officials say they only need $16 million instead of $17 million to repair schools, none for a working cash fund and none to refinance old debt, Interim Superintendent Scott Thompson said.
That doesn’t change the mind of Mary Vanek, a parent and attorney who led the grassroots effort to put the question to voters. If the measure passes, the district could borrow up to $27 million.
“If everybody votes yes, they can do whatever they want,” Vanek said. “To me, that’s a problem.”
Vanek said she and parents in her group have trouble trusting the district to limit itself to spending only $16 million, especially as it prepares to go into deficit spending for the next five years. She points to the fact that the district’s reserves are $14.5 million than the recommended amount and could be used for capital projects and to balance the budget.
“Don’t go around telling people the sky’s falling and you’re not going to be able to do anything if the bond issue doesn’t pass when you have all this money,” she said. “There’s nothing to stop them from coming up with a better plan.”
But Thompson said the district does not want to spend down reserves with the state $4.8 million behind in tax payments and slicing funding.
The projects for which the bonds were needed are part of the district’s 10-year life safety study and include a number of roof and corroded pipe replacements; heating and air conditioning system replacements; and upgrades to electrical and lighting systems.
The district did some work this summer, which lowered the initial $17 million cost, Thompson said. It’s pursuing Build America Bonds because the federal government reimburse for 30 percent of the interest costs. But since those expire at the end of the year and must be used on capital improvement projects in three years of their issuance date, the district also would pursue low interest bonds later, Thompson said.
If the referendum fails, the district may have to delay some capital improvements and prioritize spending on others.
“We have a million dollars to take care of some capital budgets, so we’ll definitely spend a million dollars,” Thompson said.
The district does not have a comprehensive plan that outlines regularly scheduled maintenance, but intends to at some point, he said.
“Their plan is, if your roof leaks, we’ll fix it,” Vanek said. “As it stands now, that’s really not an adequate plan.”
Vanek said she feels relatively confident the referendum measure will not pass because voters are hesitant to say yes to anything that will raise their taxes right now.
But Thompson sees it differently. For a home valued at $220,000, the additional cost would be a little more than $15 a year, he said.
“It’s my hope the voters see this is a small amount of money,” he said. “It would really help us take care of these things.”
