Lebanon board approves financing steps for $87.7 million campus master plan

After a second required public hearing, the Lebanon Community School Corporation board voted to advance a multi-year campus master plan and to authorize steps toward issuing bonds to pay for the work.

The board approved three related resolutions by voice vote: a project resolution stating the board believes the plan is in the district’s best interest, a preliminary-determination resolution declaring the project a necessity, and a declaration of intent to reimburse pre-issuance costs from future bond proceeds. Chair Klauser called for the motions and each passed with the board responding “Aye.”

The district described a broad package of facilities work spanning the high school and north-campus acreage. The plan would convert the existing auxiliary gym into a dedicated wrestling room with roughly 3.5 mats and 364-seat pull-out bleachers, expand the natatorium from six to eight lanes with a diving well and about 450 raised spectator seats, add a new weight room, reconfigure bus and staff parking, replace the football stadium seating (3,500 home; 1,000 visitor) and visitor facilities, provide a ticket booth on Grant Street, and build north-campus athletics infrastructure including an eight-lane Mondo track, turf field capability, varsity and JV baseball fields, new locker-room facilities, and cross-country courses.

District staff said the work would be undertaken as a sequence of bond issuances (likely three series), with a construction start targeted no earlier than March 2027 and a minimum program length of roughly 27 months. “The maximum total of these issuances and the maximum price of the par bonds for this project is $87,695,000,” the district’s presenter told trustees. He also said underwriters would include a broad legal pricing range and that market rates fluctuate; separately the presenter noted that if bonds were issued on the day of the meeting, the district would expect rates under 4% based on current market conditions.

On tax impact, staff said the project would increase the district’s nonexempt debt-service tax rate by just under $0.16 (16 cents) based on current assessed-value assumptions; staff also noted actual impact will depend on future assessed value and market conditions. The presenter estimated the project would touch roughly a third of the district’s student population across grades 6–12, with higher participation at the high-school level.

What’s next: with the preliminary steps approved, the district may proceed with design, surveys and bidding this year, then seek bond issuances in multiple series as needed to fund the work. Trustees recessed the project hearing and opened the regular meeting after taking the votes.