During the latest Clearview Regional High School District Board of Education meeting, members were presented a proposal for a referendum that could cost up to $48 million. If successfully passed, however, residents may not see an impact on local taxes given that the district is scheduled to retire a 20-year-old bond in 2023.
Existing debt is retiring from a 20-year-old bond in 2023, allowing new debt to be added without an increase in taxes. The amount of debt that is being retired is about $48 million.
The projects in the referendum will cost between $40 to $48 million. The vote is expected to be held in September 2020.
The district is working with a financial advisor to minimize the tax impact as the debt expires. In the meantime, as the work starts in 2021, the district is considering issuing short-term interest payments from Bond Anticipation Notes before the referendum, until they can issue permanent debt in 2023 when the 2003 bond expires.
The district would pay the interest at no tax impact to residents, according to the district.
George Duthie – from the district architect firm of Fraytak, Veisz, Hopkins, Duthie – presented the proposed referendum projects, which addressed a variety of needs in the district’s buildings, to board members and members of the public.
The proposal, which is still in the preliminary stages, is under consideration and no final decisions have been made, according to the district.
Some of the major projects up for consideration include upgrades to the district’s building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Air conditioning will be added to all remaining areas that do not currently have it, including in the high school’s gymnasium.
“Those things are beyond their serviceable life right now. A lot of the repairs to the system are very costly and they strain district resources,” Duthie said.
The district is also proposing to improve its life safety systems and security upgrades. These include fire alarm systems, doors, hardware, glass, public address systems, communication systems and red alert messaging systems.
There are also educational programs and student facility projects under consideration. One of the projects includes converting the middle school woodshop to a STEM lab. Others include upgrades to the high school auditorium lighting and sound system, which is more than 10 years old.
Additionally, Duthie said a synthetic turf field is also being considered. No further information was given about the field during the presentation.
Duthie stated a new connecting road between the high school and middle school for student pickup was being considered.
“Project lists are still in development and a refinement is going to be based upon input from stakeholders. We’ve already met with a lot of people and we’ve gone over projects already and we’re going to be doing that several more times before we get to the final list,” said Duthie.
The district hopes to have the board vote on allowing a referendum by the late winter or early spring so that the district can have adequate time to prepare for a public vote in September. The district is hoping to have the public referendum in September so that they can begin the projects in 2021. If the referendum doesn’t come up for a vote by September, the projects would not be able to begin until 2022, according to the district.
“Ideally, we’d like to get everything bid out and awarded so that the work can begin at the very beginning of the summer of ’21,” said Superintendent John Horchak.
The next BOE meeting is scheduled for Nov. 21 at 7 p.m in the Public Conference Room of the Administration Building.
