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Waterloo school board votes to place about $165 million bond question on November ballot
Summary
After receiving a citizen petition, the Waterloo Comm School District board voted to put an approximately $165 million school infrastructure sales-and-use-tax bond measure before voters on Nov. 5; board members and the superintendent said the revenue comes from an existing 1% sales tax, not property taxes.
The Waterloo Comm School District board voted to place a resolution on the Nov. 5 ballot seeking roughly $165 million in school infrastructure sales-and-use-tax revenue bonds.
Superintendent Dr Smith said the district received a petition that exceeded the legal signature threshold and that district counsel advised the board it could either abandon the project or move forward with an election. "The public did what they needed to do to bring this to a vote," Dr Smith said, recommending the board allow voters to decide.
The petition and the legal process were a focus of discussion. A board member raised a point of order about the resolution's citation of an older code section (referred to in the meeting as 423 E5) and asked that the ballot language be corrected to reflect the current citation in 423b before the measure goes to voters or be amended with the attorney's guidance. The chair and other members indicated the board could vote to put the question on the ballot and update the statutory language as needed.
Board members and the superintendent framed the measure as a response to aging facilities and long-term enrollment declines. In explaining why the district seeks sales-tax-funded bonds rather than new property-tax increases, a board member said the dedicated 1% sales tax was established in Iowa in 2008 and remains in place through 2050; the member argued that replacing older, inefficient buildings can reduce operating costs and help limit upward pressure on property taxes.
The superintendent described the petition-processing work: district staff reviewed signatures and reported more than the number required (the transcript documents a required threshold of 2,342 signatures and that staff found just over 2,400 valid signatures). The board discussed next steps with legal counsel before voting.
The board approved the superintendent's recommendation by voice vote; the chair announced the motion carried.
What happens next: the board will finalize ballot language, including any code-section corrections requested by board members, and the measure will appear on the November 5 ballot for voter approval. If passed, the bond proceeds would be used for school infrastructure projects described in the district's plan.
