College Community, Springville bonds before voters Tuesday

Elections are set for Tuesday in three Eastern Iowa school districts.

For voters in Linn County, winter weather has pushed opening times for polls from 7 a.m. to noon, according to a news release from the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. Polls in Benton and Johnson counties remain unchanged and all polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Residents in the College Community and Springville school districts will vote on multimillion dollar bond issues aimed at upgrading buildings in the two districts. Both requests are being put to voters again after initially failing to gain the 60 percent supermajority required for approval.

In the Lone Tree school district in Johnson County, voters are being asked to renew the district's physical plant and equipment levy.

A snowstorm is predicted to roll through Iowa on Tuesday, which could affect turnout.

'The weather makes me nervous,” College Community Superintendent John Speer said Friday.

Here's a look at the ballot issues in the three districts.

college community

Voters in the 5,600-student College Community district - that includes portions of Benton, Johnson and Linn counties - are being asked to approve a $49.5 million bond to fund the construction and furnishing of an addition to Prairie High School. The addition would include 13 general classrooms, three science classrooms, four music classrooms and a new cafeteria. The bonds also would pay to update the library/media center, locker areas and consumer science space, plus add parking spaces. Funds also would go to repair and remodel the Prairie Crest, Prairie Heights and Prairie View buildings.

A similar $49.5 million bond failed - by 54 votes - to gain the 60 percent supermajority last April, but a petition asking that it be put on the ballot again brings it back before voters.

This time, the school board approved spending at least $6 million of local-option sales tax revenue to bring down the property tax rate required to pay back the bonds. The board also paid off some debts to further reduce the bond's impact on property tax bills.

The district said the bond issue would add 32 cents to the district's tax rate, increasing it from $15.81 to $16.13 per $1,000 assessed valuation. That's an increase of about $17.50 a year on a home with an assessed value of $100,000. In addition, the tax rate would decline over 10 years, the district says, assuming no further borrowing.

Speer said the bond would address needs for capacity, efficiencies and security at the four buildings.

'We're over capacity by both room utilization and the number of students,” Speer said, noting that the high school has 1,120 students in a 1,080-capacity building. The school saw 291 students graduate last year and anticipates a graduating class of more than 400 students in 2018, he said.

The bonds also would improve safety, with updated fire sprinkler systems, fire alarms, intercoms and secure offices and building entrances at Prairie Crest, Prairie Heights and Prairie View schools.

Speer said he is 'cautiously optimistic” about the bond issue passing this time.

'I think there's more of a sense of urgency that our voters have,” he said.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Prairie High School, Ely Public Library, Fairfax Public Library and Swisher Legion Hall.

Springville

In Springville's 360-student district in northeast Linn County, voters are being asked to approve a $4.7 million bond to add a new elementary school building to the district's existing secondary school. If approved, a single, K-12 school building would result. The existing elementary school building would be vacated.

In 2014, voters rejected a $7.22 million bond issue aimed at repairing and expanding both the elementary and secondary schools - and a levy that would have added $4.05 per $1,000 of taxable property value.

Since then, school officials have revamped the plan to focus solely on adding an elementary school - with nine classrooms - to the existing secondary school, Springville Superintendent Pat Hocking said.

The secondary school would get a new roof, windows, tuckpointing, a more secure entrance and a technology room.

If passed, the bond issue would add $2.70 per $1,000 valuation to the district's current tax levy of $12.98. That's an additional $137 per year on property assessed at $100,000.

'We have scaled the project back and really made it much more practical,” Hocking said. 'Springville, for a long time has made do with what they had, and it's just really time to look at upgrading our facilities.”

Some voters have questioned having elementary and secondary students in one building. The district has said it can arrange minimal interaction between the age groups via scheduling and noted that three other nearby districts - Alburnett, Central City and Lisbon - also have one K-12 building.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Springville Memorial Library.

Lone Tree

In Johnson County, voters in the 450-student Lone Tree school district will vote to renew a 66-cent physical plant and equipment levy.

The levy, which comes up for renewal every 10 years, provides the district with about $92,000 annually for building repairs or purchases of such things as buses or computers, Superintendent Michael Reeves said.

A simple majority of 50 percent is required for passage.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lone Tree American Legion.