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WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27, 2019
Stockton school bond referendum to appear on April ballot EDITOR
Stockton Community Unit School District 206 will bring three building/ bond referendum options to the April 2, polls and is asking voters to cast their ballots in reflecting one of four hypothetical levels of support for the three questions. 1) If you are planning to vote “Yes” for the 9.8 million-dollar question, understand that the question excludes additional projects included in the 12.4 million-dollar question and the 18 million dollar question. 2) If you are planning to vote “Yes” for the 12.4 million-dollar question, understand that the question encompasses all projects included in the 9.8 million-dollar question, but excludes certain projects only covered by the 18 million-dollar question. 3) If you are planning to vote “Yes” for the 18 million-dollar question, understand that the question encompasses all projects included in both the 12.4 million-dollar and the 9.8 million-dollar questions.. 4) If you are not in support of any of the questions, vote no on all three questions. The Board of Education will not aggregate multiple questions’ amounts; instead, it is the board’s intention that if multiple questions pass, the district will only honor the highest single amount that passes. Stockton School Board President Kirk Schubert said each of the ballot questions carries a different impact. “In the past the board made decisions on the path that they want to take on this,” Schubert said. “We tried to do a building program that was going to be “back doored” and we decided that took too much of our funds secured and all of our 1% sales tax and basically left us with no rainy day or emergency funding. The previous board decided that was a bad idea. Even at that time we still weren’t sure if the community wanted us to stay with the current elementary school or leave the elementary school. What exactly did they want us to do?” He said the current board decided enough was enough. “We decided to get involved with
a new architect and go ask the community what they want us to do,” he said. “Once we got information from The Advisory Task Force group and found we don’t need to stay in the current elementary school building. We want one campus, and the board decided to bring this question to the community and let them choose the amount that they will support.” Schubert said everything that they’ve tried to do leads to letting the community make decisions and provide direction to its board. “We want to reach out to the community and get more people involved in the process, so we really understand what the community wants and then grow our school district accordingly,” he said. “I think that’s where all of this is coming from and why we are doing what we are doing.” “I’ve gotten good feedback from community members,” said Stockton School Board member Kim Mapes. “I’ve spent a lot of time recently trying to have conversations with our agricultural community because the impact this has them.” Mapes said there will be an effect if an Ag operation has grain setups or buildings or animals. “It’s not huge, but it’s an impact and with the economy right now I wish this had gone to a referendum six years ago. Corn then was at seven dollars and it’s a no-brainer. It’s a different conversation now, but I’ve had really good feedback from our agricultural community. They understand our needs, and the needs of our district. I think that’s great.” She said the school district does not have the capability to self-fund a building project or even its needed Health-Life-Safety items. “The district generates about $360,000 a year with the current one cent sales tax and that money has to be used towards buildings,” said Mapes. “What the district has been doing is saving and then doing a project, then saving again and doing a project. But, with our current Health-Life-Safety needs which include roofs, electric work, plumbing, and HVAC, those are the big ticket items.”
See REFERENDUM, Page 8
Stockton Community Unit School District Number 206 Building Referendum Option Plans
$18,000,000 Ballot Question
$12,400,000 Ballot Question
$9,800,000 Ballot Question
Includes $12,400,00 list as well as:
Includes $9,800,00 list as well as:
- Build New Elementary School - Single campus achieved - Minimal HSL (1) work done
- Adding HS Size Gym - Similar to what is at HS (2) - Add new MS (3) classrooms and corridors - Major renovation to High School - Major renovation to Middle School - HLS at High School - HLS at Middle School
- Prioritized HLS (1) at HS (2) - Improvement to School Sites - Not all HLS (1) work will be done
100% funded by referendum bonds, no additional financing needed
Would require additional financing of approximately $2.5MM
Would require additional financing of approximately $5MM
0% of Sales Tax Revenue used for financing these projects
This $2.5MM would be repaid using approx. 50% of District’s available Sales Tax Revenue
This $5MM would be repaid likely using 100% of the available Sales Tax Revenue.
100% of Sales Tax Revenue available for future projects or debt repayment
Approx. 50% of Sales Tax Revenue avail. for future projects or debt repayment
Approx. 0% of Sales Tax Revenue avail. for future projects or debt repayment
NOTE: The Board of Education will not aggregate multiple questions’ amounts together. Instead, it is the Board’s intention that if multiple questions pass, the District will only honor the highest single amount that passes. Example: If all 3 questions pass, the Board will finance $18,000,000 in projects and ignore the remaining approved amounts of $12,4MM and $9.8MM Hypothetical Levels of Support for the 3 Questions: If you are planning to vote “Yes” for the $18MM Question, that Question encompasses all projects included in the $12.4MM and $8.8MM Questions If you are planning to vote “Yes” for the $12.4MM Question, that Question encompasses all projects included in the $9.9MM Question, but excludes certain projects only covered by the $18MM Question If you are planning to vote “Yes” for the $9.8MM Question, that question excludes additional projects included in the $12.4MM and $18MM Questions If you are not in support of any question, you would likely vote “No” for all 3 Questions What if none of the 3 questions pass? - Centralized (single) campus not achieved - District would start to prioritize HLS (1) items in all existing buildings - District saves Sales Tax Revenue monthly until enough money is saved to complete a project, barring other needs arising - District would obtain financing that requires pledging the Sales Tax Revenue to tackle more projects up front (1) HLS=Health Life Safety • (2) HS=Existing High School Building • (3) MS=Existing Middle School Building
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