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School officials ask Goodland to consider ballot question to fund new career and technical education building
Summary
A school representative outlined options to replace an aging career and technical education building, proposing either a $2.7M remodel or a $4M new structure and asking the city to consider placing a 10-year quarter-cent sales-tax question on the ballot to fund construction and related street work.
Bill bman, speaking for the school district, presented options to replace or renovate the district's career and technical education (CTE) "A" building and asked the City Commission whether it would be willing to place a ballot question before voters.
The district presented two basic options: renovate the existing structure — estimated at about $2.7 million — or build a new facility for roughly $4 million. "What we're looking at right now is... maybe we should just build new," Bill bman said, arguing that a new building would better serve expanding programs such as robotics, broadcasting and a "smart lab." He said a state facility-aid formula could contribute approximately $1 million toward a new build under current calculations.
To pay the local share, the district outlined three funding approaches: increasing capital-outlay mills, using district reserves and lease-purchase financing, or asking voters to continue a quarter-cent sales tax after the district's existing sales-tax authority expires. The presenter said the district's analysis of historical receipts shows the quarter-cent sales-tax has generated roughly $275,000–$363,000 annually in recent years and that a 10-year continuation could yield about $3.5 million — a figure that aligns with the district's estimate for a new building.
The district also proposed locating the facility on a district-owned lot west of the high school and asked whether the city would support converting Cherry Street to a one-way corridor to improve traffic flow and student safety. The presenter emphasized that any street changes would require Planning Commission and police review.
Commissioners asked procedural and safety questions about the one-way idea, sight lines and whether the Planning Commission would need to review traffic changes. The presenters and commissioners agreed that the question should be decided by voters; no formal action was requested at this meeting. The presenter asked only that the commission consider placing a 10-year quarter-cent sales-tax question on the ballot and said further planning and public outreach would follow if the city signaled willingness to put the measure before voters.
Next steps: the district will continue planning and work with city staff and the Planning Commission on traffic and site logistics. The commission did not vote to place a question on the ballot at this meeting.
