Franklin board holds public hearing on bond-funded projects and approves publication of 2025 budget notices

The Franklin Community School Corp board opened a public hearing on a proposed bond-financed facilities plan and heard municipal-advisor commentary on how the projects would be financed and affect typical property taxpayers. Benjie Betts, the district’s executive director of facilities administration, described the process for communicating project needs to the community and how the bond would address those needs. "We will now hear from Megan Gibson of Baker Tilly, who serves as the municipal advisor for Franklin Schools," the president said before Gibson presented the financing overview.

Megan Gibson of Baker Tilly outlined the budget estimates and the expected tax impact, telling the board the budget estimate is "around $78,000,000" and noting an estimated circuit-breaker (tax cap credit) decline from about $3,900,000 to roughly $3,100,000. Gibson described the standard DLGF template used for the notice and asked the board for permission to publicize the notice prior to the board's September meeting.

The board approved by voice vote a motion to publicize the notice and proceed with advertising capital projects and the district’s bus-replacement plan. The notice to taxpayers will be generated from the district’s Gateway budget entry and posted on the district website per statutory publication procedures.

Administrators flagged bus-replacement needs as part of the capital plan, estimating vehicle ages between 12 and 16 years and describing a planned purchase scripted in a previously discussed bond: "That's where the funding the $2,200,000,000 funding for bus replacement would come from," one presenter said when describing the bond-linked purchase of 12 buses, one special-needs bus and two activity buses. (The transcript used the phrasing given by the presenter; the board did not adopt bond issuance at this meeting — the hearing gathered public comment and a second hearing was scheduled for Aug. 19 at 6 p.m.)

The board’s action at this meeting was procedural: to gather public comment and authorize the publication of budget and capital-project notices as part of the statutory process. No final bond issuance or voter-approval item was decided at the hearing; administrators said additional steps and a second public hearing will follow.

Next steps: the board scheduled a second public hearing on the bond proposals for Aug. 19 at 6 p.m. and will continue working with advisers on financing details.