Anamosa school board approves funding plan

ANAMOSA – The Anamosa school board last night unanimously approved accepting the Iowa Department of Education's offer of $12.4 million under the Qualified School Construction Bond Program to build a middle school on a controversial Old Dubuque Road site.

The board also voted unanimously to move forward with selling the district's 58-acre property near Highway 64.

The moves apparently resolve the district's long-running disagreement over the best place to build the new school – though not to the satisfaction of community members who favored the Highway 64 site.

Several people addressing the board during the open forum session said most community members acknowledge the need to replace the district's rundown West Middle School, which was built in 1885.

They also said much of the opposition to two recent failed school bond referenda had more to do with opposition to the Old Dubuque Road location than to the prospect of higher property taxes.

Under the proposal approved by the board last night, property taxes will not increase.

The Qualified School Construction Bonds program, a part of the 2009 federal stimulus legislation, enables lenders get tax credits in lieu of interest, so school districts get interest-free money for construction projects.

Larry Burger of Speer Financial in Waterloo, who explained the program at the April 19 board meeting, said the district would save more than $5 million in interest costs if its application was accepted.

The district would repay the debt on the school with proceeds from the local-option sales tax for school infrastructure. No increase in property taxes and no voter approval would be required, Monroe said.

For an annual investment of $621,000 for 17 years, the district would have $12.4 million available for a school building.

The board unanimously voted to apply for the allocation April 19, less than two weeks after voters defeated a $15.1 million bond issue to build the middle school