The $29 Million Question…Part 5
By Barry Venable and Pat Salstrand
On April 7 voters in the ROCORI School District will be asked to approve a 25 year bond proposal of no more than $29,990,000 to build a new ROCORI Middle School and make needed enhancements to other district facilities. The proposal is district-wide in scope and the outcome of the referendum will affect every child in the district. This is the fifth in a series of articles designed to help voters as they study the issues in support of making an informed decision.
At ROCORI Middle School the taxpayers of the school district have repeatedly elected to straighten bent nails rather than buying new nails. Over the years those nails have gotten soft and rusty. The school needs fixing again, and those same old nails are not up to the task. There is no economic value left in straightening the nails at the middle school, but yet we do need a middle school, and that’s what the April 7 referendum is about.
If approved on April 7, the referendum question will raise property taxes for everyone in the district—every homeowner, every business owner, every agricultural property, and every vacation home owner. The accompanying chart shows the estimated tax impact. Column A shows the amount of tax payable in 2009. Column C shows the taxes payable in 2010 if the referendum passes and Column D shows the yearly total of the increase. Divide column D by 12 to determine the monthly increase.
If the referendum is not approved on April 7 then property taxes for everyone in the district will go down, at least for a brief period of time. Column B shows the taxes payable in 2010 if the referendum is not passed. Taxes would go down because the bond for the construction of Cold Spring Elementary, a portion of which everyone is currently paying, is due to be retired (or paid off) in 2010. Subtract column B from column C to determine the amount of the decrease.
Property values vary within each of the communities in the ROCORI School District, but the average home is valued at $175,000. For the average homeowner, the referendum proposal would increase property taxes by $120 a year, or $10 a month from current levels. Because the payments for Cold Spring Elementary are complete when the new bond payments take effect, the net tax impact is a more moderate increase that would otherwise be experienced. If this “piggy-backing” feature was not present, e.g., the Cold Spring Elementary debt was already retired, then the cost of this proposal to the owner of a $175,000 property, would be $203 per year (Column C minus Column B).
Before everyone rushes to take their tax break at the polls, it’s important to consider the implications, because there are costs associated with voting “no.”
First, the kids in the district need decent and adequate places to go to school. In our district, that need is not being met at the middle school. Portions of the high school facility are not meeting their needs, and every elementary school could use more space and teachers. Voting “no” keeps the status quo, defers the hard decisions, and does nothing to enhance our children’s education.
The problems at the middle school building are not going away. Over time they are only going to worsen and more expensive to fix. At some point taxpayer investment will be required to sustain the current middle school facility. The ROCORI community can fix the problems in the manner we desire, or we can wait and allow others to tell us to fix them, most likely without the privilege of a ballot box. Professional estimates show that up to $12 million dollars would be required to simply bring that facility up to current building and safety codes, and that figure does not include any substantial improvements or additions to the building. Throwing $12 million at a building in which most of the classrooms were built in 1926 and 1946 does not pass the Stearns County common-sense test, because the building will in all likelihood be falling over before the bond ever gets paid off, and we would still not be able to fit all of the kids in grades in 6-8 into it. Alternatively, to simply replace the middle school with another building is estimated at $24 million. There is also about $9 million dollars worth of work at the high school that must be done within the next few years. Combined together into a single referendum, that’s $35 million in today’s dollars, or $6 million more than the current proposal—what will it cost in the coming years?
Secondly, continuing to operate two separate facilities will not allow the district to take advantage of the opportunities for savings created by the establishment of a common middle school/high school campus. There would still be two kitchens and cafeterias to staff and operate instead of one. There would still be duplicate spaces and services at both the high school and middle school for the media center, Art, Band, Choir, Industrial Technology and Family and Consumer Science. The teachers for these classes would continue to be paid for driving back and forth between the two schools instead of for teaching all day at one site. The classrooms associated with these subjects would continue to sit idle for half the day. There would still be two principals and two offices instead of one. Buses would still have two drop points and extra miles to drive and to be paid for. A consolidated middle school/high school campus potentially saves the district from spending up to $400,000 per year in operating costs in the areas of utilities, staffing, and services. Over the 25 year life of the bond that amounts to about $16 million in savings. That money could stay in the general fund and be used to better educate our kids, and might even negate the need for a future operating levy.
The citizen-developed proposal being put before voters will save the district money because we can stop throwing money after an aging and deteriorating building, and put our money towards a long-term solution. We won’t have to build the same thing twice. The proposal makes full use of scarce resources and is a good investment. Given the tough economic times, it is imperative that use of taxpayer money is maximized, and this proposal stretches a dollar in a way that should make the rest of Stearns County envious. We put our money into the newest facilities and considerably extend their life span. A single referendum addresses the district’s major facility needs for the foreseeable future, and the cumulative value of our investment is significantly greater than our cost. If we were to build a new middle and high school separately it would cost $45 million. This proposal builds the equivalent for under $30 million.
The window of opportunity to achieve such tremendous value is short. Yes, times are tough, but we’ve been through recessions before and still managed to pay on our school bonds. On the other hand, we’re pretty certain that once things improve economically it will not get any cheaper to build schools than it is right now. Schools are a big part of the ROCORI community. Even if you do not have any connection to the schools, you should understand that the condition of facilities and reputation of the school district matter a great deal to your home and property values. The schools are one of the engines of the local economy, and investments in them are important to our economic well-being. If the referendum is successful, the construction work will be an economic stimulus for the ROCORI community.
We need a new middle school now. The generations who came before us picked up the public education load and ensured the education of their children, through good times and bad.. It’s time for the taxpaying generations of today to do the same. Our kids are watching us. It’s time to grit our teeth, get tough, hoist the load onto our own backs like our parents did, and move it forward into the future.
The writers are concerned parents of school-age children and co-chairs of the Build a New Middle School Referendum Committee.
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