HOWARD — The East Knox school board will vote tonight on whether to begin the process of putting a bond issue on the November ballot.
The board plans to ask voters to approve a 37-year, 3.25 bond levy to replace the junior high and high school building.
The aging facility has long been a point of discussion by the school board and district’s facility planning committee. Both groups have spent the past school year reviewing options developed with the help of Fanning Howey, an architectural firm based in Dublin, Ohio. In May, both parties concluded that the best option would be to demolish most of the current junior high and high school facility and construct a new building for grades six through 12 in its place. Only the 1994 addition, which includes the cafeteria and gym, would remain and be renovated.
Other options that were under consideration earlier in the school year included building an addition onto the elementary school to form a preschool through 12th grade facility or building a new high school and adding a junior high wing to the elementary building. Renovating the junior high and high school was the cheapest approach, but this option was discarded because many saw it as a temporary fix rather than a lasting solution. Estimates from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission predicted that just renovating the building would cost approximately $15.6 million, while creating a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade facility would cost $21.6 million and constructing additions at both buildings would cost $18.9 million. The approach currently favored by the board had the second lowest estimated cost, initially $16.5 million.
After further review, the district concluded that the actual cost of any of these approaches would be $2.5 million more than initial estimates. Thus, the current plan is now projected to cost approximately $19 million. This additional cost takes into account factors not considered in the estimates by the OFCC, including inflationary costs and the work done to parking lots in order to accommodate traffic flow during construction.
The most recent figures indicate that the district would need to pass a 37-year, 3.25 mill bond issue to finance the new building, but Larcomb said these numbers are subject to change.
“It’s not a done deal until we actually get to that point where the board moves forward and the auditor certifies what it would take,” he explained.
Ohio law requires school boards to pass two resolutions before filing for an issue with the board of elections. The East Knox school board must pass a resolution of necessity at this week’s meeting and a resolution to proceed at its meeting on July 9 in order to meet the application deadline.
If the board passes a resolution of necessity tonight, county auditor Jonette Curry will calculate the exact millage needed to pay for the project. The board will take these calculations into account during its vote in July.
Bond levies are measured in millage, or the dollar amount due per $100,000 of taxable property value. Taxable property value, sometimes called assessed property value, is equal to 35 percent of the total market value of person’s property. So, the 3.25 bond levy would cost $3.25 for every thousand dollars of taxable property value.
According to the county auditor’s office, the current millage of all property taxes paid by East Knox school district residents is 44.98 mills. The amount is comparable to other area districts, with Danville paying 43.41 mills and Fredericktown paying 46.71 mills.
The school board meets tonight at 6 p.m. at the district board office.
