Voters in the Spickard R-2 School District had the opportunity to gather information about the upcoming $120,000 bond issue election during a meeting held Monday night.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Voters in the Spickard R-2 School District had the opportunity to gather information about the upcoming $120,000 bond issue election during a meeting held Monday night.
Patrons gathered with members of the R-2 School Board in the basement of the Spickard Methodist Church, where classes have been held since the start of school on Sept. 7. Structural problems with the school building have made most of it unusable, forcing district officials to hold classes in the church building until funds become available for repair of the building.
Tom McGuire of McLiney and Associates, the bonding company the district is working with, was present at the meeting to answer questions and discuss how the project would proceed if the issue, which would increase the district’s levy 49 cents on the $100 assessed valuation, passes in the Nov. 2 election. McGuire said if the issue receives the 66 2/3 percent vote needed to pass, his company would immediately purchase the bonds and forward the proceeds to the school district. The bonds would be paid back over a period of 10 years, rather than 20 years, saving the district about $40,000 in interest over the life of the loan. The first payment, McGuire said, would not be due until March 2001.
McGuire said the funds will be used in several ways, including restoring the structural integrity of the school building, making it possible to resume classes there; upgrading the electrical wiring; putting a new roof on the gym (which has already been started using money from the capital projects fund); and fixing the chimney (another project which is ready to begin using capital projects funds).
One of the questions addressed during the meeting was whether or not $120,000 is really enough to make the school safe and usable, or if it is only a “band-aid” approach to the problem. McGuire and Board President Brenda Tharp said the funds are adequate to meet the needs and district officials have been told that if the work is completed as planned, the building will last another 50 years.
The handful of patrons who attended the meeting also heard what would happen in the event the issue does not pass. McGuire said it is possible the district could run the issue in a future election, but it would be a hardship on the students to continue in the current situation.
Discussing the worst-case scenario of the district being dissolved, McGuire said the state would decide, with some local input, which district would absorb the R-2 district. At that point, he said, the Spickard patrons would lose all local control.
“If this thing fails and you end up going to Trenton or another district, then you will have to dance to their tune and you won’t have a say. What we would see here is the passing of another community,” he said.
McGuire said it is possible that R-2 patrons would be forced to foot the bill to tear the building down, as well as pay the tax levy imposed by the receiving district.
Mrs. Tharp and other board member said they feel fairly confident that the issue will pass, based on comments they have heard and the support the district received in last year’s Proposition C Rollback Waiver issue, which was 76 percent of the vote. If the board is wrong, the fate of the district will once again be in jeopardy.
Voters in the district are reminded that all voting will take place at Spickard City Hall. Absentee ballots may be voted until 5 p.m., Monday, Nov. 1 at the county clerk’s office at the Grundy County Courthouse. The last day to request absentee ballots by mail is Oct. 27.