As many of you know, there was a community forum held on July 2oth to discuss the issue of the upcoming bond proposal. This post is designed to inform everyone as to what the bond is, and how it will effect our school system and the community at large. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will try and answer them to the best of my ability.
Why do we need this bond proposal?
In short, we need the money- the funds recieved from the 2000 bond have been exhausted, and the current expenditures we are facing can not be paid for through the sinking fund legally. Saline has a reputation as an upstanding school district and this money would go towards helping us maintain that high position.
What will this money go towards?
This $28 million bond will be split up into several categories:
Improving safety + security
-the flow of people into the elementary schools will psas through the office to help keep our children safe.
Technology and busing
-our buses have a twelve year life span (longer than the one given by the state), and many need to be replaced, additionally we are hoping to possibly get cameras on the buses to help further incerase safety for students.
-as with our buses, many of our computers and networking infrastructure components are either end of life or have too much strain put on them, this bond would help to keep us up-to-date technology wise, utilizing new devices to help keep our students current.
Parking + traffic improvements
Many of the schools have poor traffic flow and as such they create a dangerous environment for the students, one that needs to be reconciled.
Heating + cooling improvements
Many of our buildings need upgrades to our heating and cooling systems, not only because they are at the end of their life, but also because upgrades would lead to more efficient and cost effective heating and cooling systems.
Roof renovations
Many of the roofs that are in place will soon be in need of repair or replacement. While they may not be cheap, newer roofs have the possibility of forty year live spans.
How will this bond be funded?
First and foremost, this bond will produce no increase in mills paid by the community. Instead, the current 7 mills that is paid will be extended. The 2000 bond was projected to be paid off by 2035, however, due to frugality by the district and government programs that projection has been pushed forward to 2025. This bond proposal, if funded, would bump that drop in mills to 2031. If the projection is moved up further, the new one will too (essentially it will extend the point where the mills paid will drop off by six years).
Why now?
This bond is being proposed now for two main reasons:
Necessity
many of the initiatives that would be funded are time sensitive, and need addressing somewhat immediatly
Government programs
there is roughly $18 million of interest that will need to be paid, however, due to government programs, if we secure the bond before September we will be reimbursed for roughly 6 million of that – an opportunity that does not come along very often.
This bond would mostly go towards things that are necessities, as opposed to luxuries. In other words, if un-passed, the bond proposal would not effect whether or not a roof is fixed or a bus is bought, rather it will come back to further cut programs and staffing. No matter how you feel on the issue, I encourage you to get out and vote on Tuesday, August 3rd.
For more information on the bond issue, leave a comment or check out the Budget Blog.
lytlee Uncategorized
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