Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Sinking Fund topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Plymouth-Canton board votes to place 10-year, 1.5-mill sinking fund on November ballot
Summary
The Plymouth-Canton Community Schools board approved placing a 10-year, 1.5-mill sinking fund on the November ballot, saying the revenue would fund repairs and capital needs that bond dollars cannot cover; the vote was unanimous.
The Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Board of Education voted unanimously on July 9 to place a 10-year, 1.5-mill sinking fund proposal on the Nov. ballot, a measure district officials say would create a pay-as-you-go capital fund for repairs and projects bond money cannot cover.
Treasurer Patrick Kehoe described a sinking fund as "a locally passed millage that allows us to raise capital money, without having a debt obligation," and said it can be used for renovations, building repairs, transportation and technology needs. Kehoe told the board the proposal would raise roughly "about 13 and a half million dollars a year" at the stated rate, and emphasized it would not incur interest costs because it is not debt.
Superintendent Monica Merrick said the board and staff conducted research and public discussions ahead of the final reading and that the sinking fund is intended to protect the general fund from unplanned repair costs. "This will help offset some of the rising costs that we've seen for inflation as well as some of the costs that we've seen for repair costs that have had to come out of the general fund," Merrick said.
Board members and staff pointed to recent unanticipated expenses as examples of the need: district staff cited recent chiller replacements as an expensive, unexpected repair. The exact figures discussed during the meeting included a staff comment that the Pilot Drive chiller replacement exceeded $400,000; the record contains inconsistent numerical references on that point, which the district should clarify publicly.
Kehoe said the district would not publish a 10-year project-by-project plan but would provide examples of likely uses and commit to regular reporting on sinking-fund spending if voters approve the measure. The board also discussed and confirmed statutory posting and public-education steps required for a ballot measure.
The motion to place the sinking fund on the ballot (action item 27-07-03) was approved by voice vote, recorded as 6-0.
