Springville and Solon school districts ask for bond

Early voting will begin Thursday on a bond question that could determine the future of facilities in the Solon Community School District.

'This is phase one,” said Solon Superintendent Sam Miller of the $25.5 million bond question to fund construction of a center for performing arts at Solon High School and a new middle school. 'The second attendance center would be phase two.”

Springville Community School District voters are also going to decide whether or not to allow administrators to bond for $7.22 million. Those dollars will be used to revamp Springville Elementary School, which was built in 1961.

'The building is in very poor condition,” Springville Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer wrote in an email to The Gazette. 'The addition and renovations will vastly improve the learning climate and educational experience for students. The need is evident ...”

The districts are in different situations: Springville's 2013-14 certified enrollment of 373.1 was less than the 377 it notched the previous year and an Iowa Department of Education forecast indicates that the trend is set to continue through 2018-19, when certified enrollment is estimated to sink to 300.2. Due south in Solon, where certified enrollment dipped only 0.2 to 1,258.7 in 2013-14, Iowa Department of Education data predicts those numbers to rebound and rise to 1,271.4 by 2018-19.

Yet both Springville and Solon school boards greenlit participating in special elections on Sept. 9, to ask residents for more money to improve buildings.

Springville's plan includes constructing an addition to the elementary school as well as fixes for many building flaws, including increased security and improved accessibility for people who have disabilities. Voters will actually have to decide on two questions: To approve the authority to issue the bond and to allow the board to levy for between $2.70 and $4.05 per $1,000 in taxable valuation annually for up to 20 years in order to finance the bond.

'A split vote may only provide for the authorization of one question instead of both,” Kortemeyer wrote.

If voters only approve one of the two questions, bonds require a supermajority of 60 percent plus one in order to pass, the superintendent floated the idea of putting the failed question on a future ballot.

Kortemeyer said the rate will be closer to $4.05 per $1,000 in the beginning, if approved, but will decrease if property values grow.

'In the initial years after the bonds have been issued the levy rate will be very close to the $4.05 level since the levy rate is calculated based upon the bond payment as a percentage of overall taxable property valuation,” she wrote.

For Springville district resident whose home is assessed at $100,000, the additional tax will represent an annual increase of $200.68 dollars at a $4.05 per $1,000 rate. The Springville district's overall tax rate for the 2015 fiscal year is $12.42 per $1,000.

Solon voters also will confront two questions during the next election. In addition to the bond, a simple majority will be needed to allow the district to maintain its Physical Plant and Equipment Levy at the voter-approved maximum of $1.34 per $1,000, for a decade beginning on July 1, 2016.

Solon is already at the $4.05 per $1,000 debt-service levy maximum and its overall tax rate for the 2015 fiscal year is $16.35 per $1,000.

'What we're telling our voters is that whether you vote for this or defeat it, your property taxes will remain the same,” Superintendent Miller said. 'What this would do is extend the duration of it. Instead of the levy going off in 2021 it would expire in 2036.” Solon's plan includes $17.02 million for planning and constructing a new middle school for students in grades five through eight to replace the current building, which dates back to 1917.

'It's time for us,” Miller said. 'We feel like our students need a new facility.”

The bond also will cover an $8.48 million center for the performing arts at Solon High School. Some of those dollars will go toward turning the existing visual arts classroom into a Lifeskills facility for special education students. The performing arts center will include a new visual arts classroom and an 810-seat auditorium.

With voter approval, construction in Springville is set to start in 2015 with bids going out this fall.

Earlier this year, the Solon school board approved the purchase of 12 acres of land west of the high school for the new middle school. The family on the property has until early 2016 to leave the property, but Superintendent Miller said the plan is to construct both the middle school and performing arts center simultaneously beginning in spring 2015. If the district can adhere to that timeline, both facilities would be open in time for the start of the 2016-17 school year.

But that's only phase one. The current middle school, Miller said, would likely become that fourth school in four to six years.

'We're looking at some sort of intermediate school,” the superintendent said, with grades three and four or three, four and five occupying the building. 'It would take some stress off our elementary school and potentially our middle school.”

That planning for both Solon and Springville is contingent on the will of the people. Both districts are hosting informational sessions on the ballot questions. Springville voters can go to the elementary school, 602 Mill Ave., Springville, at 6:30 p.m. for building tours and presentations on Monday, Aug. 4 and Monday, Aug. 25.

A public hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 25 in the media center at Solon High School, 600 W. Fifth St., Solon.

'Community members can ask about the projects,” Miller said. 'It's going to be an opportunity for people to learn about the projects before the vote.”