The Oconto Falls School Board on Wednesday finalized a two-question referendum proposal seeking funding for a variety of projects.
Voters in the district will decide Aug. 12 whether to support a $2.2 million proposal to build a football stadium and track at Oconto Falls High School, re-do parking lots at district buildings and renovate the parking lot entrance at Abrams Elementary School. If approved, the district would issue 10-year bonds for the project.
A second referendum question asks voters for an additional $400,000 each year for three years, beginning with the 2014-15 school year. These additional funds would be spent for repair roofs, to attract and retain quality teachers, and to improve computer access for students. A yes vote on this question would allow the district to tax people at a higher rate than the state allows. Voters would be asked to allow the district to exceed its revenue cap set by the state by $400,000 annually, ending with the 2016-17 school year.
According to Superintendent Dave Polashek, the financial impact for taxpayers for both referendum questions would be an average of 24 cents per $1,000 of equalized value over a 10-year period. An individual with a property valued at $100,000 would pay an additional $24 annually to support the referendum projects.
Based on a model provided by the district’s financial consultant, the district would initially not pay any of the principal on the 10-year bond, while it pays down debt for previous building projects. In 2015, a 20-year bond issued for the construction of Oconto Falls Elementary School and other district improvements will be paid in full.
“We would not pay any principal the first three years, then increasing amounts of principal that dovetail with that decline in (debt) payments,” Polashek said.
The $2.2 million question includes an estimated $1.1 million for a sports complex designed by representatives of Panther Pride, a community organization committed to developing athletic facilities for Oconto Falls student athletes. If a referendum would pass, Panther Pride would begin moving dirt in the fall, and construction could begin to the east of the district office in Oconto Falls in the spring.
A second major construction project, estimated to cost $650,000, is proposed at Abrams Elementary School. The district previously purchased the property south of the school where a now-defunct Methodist church stands. The referendum funding would include the demolition of the church, construction of driveways for a safer traffic patterns, parking lot expansion and surface drainage upgrades.
“It’s going to be a big improvement for traffic flow, for drainage, for safety, and just general parking,” Polashek said.
The long-term debt question also includes an estimated $330,000 to improve parking lots at the district’s four schools and the district office.
School Board members quibbled over the wording of the revenue cap exemption questions, rejecting the language proposed by the administration saying it was too broad and used lingo the average voter couldn’t relate to.
The board changed the wording of “technology upgrades” to “improved computer access for students” to better reflect the board’s plan to provide individual laptops for students in grades 7 and 10 and to continue expanding the program each year. They also changed the words “maintaining quality programming” to “attracting and retaining quality teachers.”
The additional funding would give the school district a competitive edge in today’s free market system in which teachers with particular certifications like physics and agriculture are in high demand.
“I think the word is out there about retaining quality teachers, as people hear about teachers leaving,” School Board member Stephanie Wijas said.
The referendum resolutions were approved with a 4-0 vote; three board members were absent.
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