THURSDAY
Januar y 14, 2016 • 75¢
KendallCountyNow.com
SERVING OSWEGO, MONTGOMERY AND BOULDER HILL FOR MORE THAN A HALF-CENTURY
Knights make a move
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D-308 takes step on change to bonds Aims to ease tax burden with restructuring plan By MATT SCHURY mschury@kendallcountynow.com
Eric Miller - emiller@shawmedia.com
The Oswego Knights of Columbus expect to vacate their building on East Washington Street, one block from Route 71, by Friday. The building has served as the home of the fraternal organization for the past three decades.
Oswego group will remain active in community despite change in address By MATT SCHURY mschury@kendallcountynow.com The Oswego Knights of Columbus Council 7247 will continue to serve the community, but not from the building the Catholic fraternal organization has called home for the past three decades. The group has rented the building at 197 E. Washington St. in Oswego from the Joliet Diocese since the early 1980s, but now the Knights will be turning it over to St. Anne’s Parish. Dave Bruckner, a Knight and manager of the building, says the group held a garage sale of items in the building to pay off expenses and raise a little money for charity before moving to another temporary location. The items sold included pizza ovens, a floor waxer and folding chairs. He said the group plans to be out of the building by Friday, Jan. 15. Bruckner acknowledged the Knights’ departure from the building marks the end of an era, but said it doesn’t mean the organization is going away.
“I thought what better people to align myself with? I didn’t know anybody, so why not join a group of men who have morals and are trying to help others,” he said. The red brick building that has “The Knights of Columbus are still served as the Knights’ hall and meetalive and well, still doing what we are ing site was constructed in 1953 by St. supposed to be doing, which is help- Mary’s Church of Plano as a mission church to serve the growing the less fortunate,” ing Catholic population Bruckner said. “As my “The Knights of in Oswego. dad once told me, evColumbus are still The building served erything happens for as the site of St. Anne’s a reason, you just may alive and well, still Church until the parish not understand it at the moment. Change is indoing what we are constructed a new, larger church on Boulder Hill evitable and you can’t stop change. This is not supposed to be doing, Pass in 1969. The Oswego Leda bad thing.” which is helping the ger reported that a The local council less fortunate.” ground-breaking cerewas formed in 1979, mony was held on SunBruckner said, and has Dave Bruckner day, June 28, 1953, for the worked closely with St. Member of the Oswego Washington Street buildAnne’s Parish, which Knights of Columbus ing with the Rev. John said it now needs the Savukynas, pastor of St. building. The Knights of Columbus is a na- Mary’s Church, Plano, presiding. The Ledger described the building tionwide Catholic fraternal organization that is chartered to help the less as having “a modern design. The east elevation facing Washington Street fortunate. Bruckner said he joined the orga- will not have any windows nor doors. nization in 1992 when he moved to the There will be a large steel cross on the community and was new to St. Anne’s See KNIGHTS, page 3 Parish.
The School District 308 Board of Education voted unanimously Monday evening to proceed with a bond restructuring. The action allows the district to comply with a Feb. 1 deadline for filing paperwork to complete the restructuring. The board must choose a restructuring option by Feb. 1 and must then authorize the bond sale no later than Feb. 8. District 308 is in year three of a four-year $10 million bond restructure, which is keeping the district’s bond and interest levy flat at $33.1 million. That restructure ends in levy By the numbers year 2016. If the board takes no action, the levy n $33.1 million: will jump to $36.3 milCurrent amount lion and increase to $41.5 levied each year million in 2020. for School District Board president Matt 308 bond and Bauman said the interinterest payments est the district is paying n $41.5 million: on the bonds will rise Amount to be each year for the next levied each year five to six years if they by 2020 if no do nothing. restructuring is “Our taxes are going done to increase every year regardless of what we do as a district in order to cover interest payments, and the [county] clerk’s office will levy for that amount,” he said. “By restructuring the bonds, what we are able to do is find a dollar amount to cap the maximum interest that we are going to pay.” Under the current debt service, the district is expected to spend just shy of $530 million through levy year 2031. The estimated debt service amount with a multi-phase restructuring approach would total a little over $666 million and would go through levy year 2040.
See SCHOOL BONDS, page 2
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Club file................................................ 11 Forum.................................................... 5 Local news...................................... 2-13 Opinion.................................................. 4 Police reports.................................. 8-9 School news.......................................13 Sports............................................. 14-16
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