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School board reviews bond package, sets March 3 as target election date
Summary
Board presenters recommended finalizing five items for a bond: scope, bond amount, election date (March 3), election type and financing plan. Finance scenarios showed a roughly $24.92/month impact on a $200,000 home under the model presented.
Presenters from the district’s finance and planning teams reviewed a proposed bond package and told the board they hope to call an election in March. The presenters said the board must finalize five elements — scope of work, bond amount, election date, election type and financing plan — and that the ballot question wording will be finalized before bringing a resolution to the board.
“Tonight, hopefully, kind of getting an idea of finalizing that scope of the project and bond amount. The date of election is pretty much set. That's at March 3, election date,” said the presenter (S8), laying out the timeline and next steps. The presenter added that the district would work with bond counsel on ballot language and warned that missing the December 8 application deadline would push the next available option to August.
Finance assumptions in the packet were deliberately conservative: a 30-year financing term and a 1% annual assessed-valuation growth assumption (the presenter noted the district’s historical growth averaged about 4.5%). The presentation used a 5.5% interest-rate assumption as a cushion; the finance presenter said rates could be lower when the district actually sells bonds, but the model is intentionally conservative.
“We try to keep it as simple as possible for voters… This plan is assuming 5.5 percent in interest rates,” the presenter (S8) said. Under the scenario shown, the presenter gave concrete tax-impact examples: about $24.92 per month on a $200,000 home and about $12.46 per month on a $100,000 home.
Board members asked follow-up questions about the finances and the possibility of “wrapping” new debt around maturing bonds to limit the short-term mill-levy spike. Presenters said wrapping could reduce the immediate levy required for debt service compared with paying off existing bonds early, and that final choices about packaging and delivery method (for example, construction-manager-at-risk) can be decided after an election result.
The board was asked to refine the scope and cost so staff can return draft ballot language and a resolution before the December 8 application deadline required to call a March election.
