When voters take to the polls this November, they can expect to be confronted with some very big numbers. A $150 million school bond has been added to the list of items for voters' consideration - a bond that is critical to building and upgrading essential school facilities, district officials said. At Thursday night's board meeting, trustees agreed to move forward with a $150 million school bond that will be used to fund the district's facilities needs, which include the ongoing construction of Christopher High School, modernizing aging buildings and making infrastructure upgrades. The board will officially cast their vote for or against the bond at the next board meeting on June 24.
If passed, the new bond will tax property owners at a rate not to exceed $60 per $100,000 of assessed home value per year. That translates to $383 in taxes for the average homeowner with a home worth $639,000, the average home price in Gilroy according to CNNMoney.com. The new bond will kick in after Measure J sunsets in 2011. Measure J taxes property owners at a rate of $70.50 per $100,000 of assessed home value. The new tax will pick up where Measure J left off, replacing the current tax rate with a lower rate. The two taxes would not overlap, staff was careful to reiterate.
With the help of a recent facilities needs assessment and a voter opinion survey, the board has all the information it needs to move forward, Board President Rhoda Bress said.
Bress and her fellow trustees spent nearly an hour wrestling over the syntax and vocabulary of the 75 word ballot statement at the board meeting.
"It took us a short time to agree on $150 million, but how long will it take us to decide on the number of words," Trustee Javier Aguirre said to lighten the serious mood. It's important for the board and district to convey the message carefully, trustees said.
"It's important for the public to know that the board has spent considerable time reviewing and analyzing the options and obtained expert advice including a facilities assessment report and voter survey," Bress said. "I have concluded that pursuing the bond is in the best interest of the students and the community and anticipate that the community will rally to support this effort even in these difficult economic times. We must ensure the future educational success of our children in our growing community."
The voter opinion survey conducted by the firm that will guide the school district through the process of putting a bond on the ballot revealed that the community does care about educational facilities, namely CHS.
The district is counting on the bond to fund CHS construction and has meager and poor options for completing the project if the bond is rejected.
Back in 2002, voters passed Measure I, a $69 million bond to fund two new elementary schools, a new student center at Gilroy High School, districtwide facilities upgrades and repairs, and the first phase of CHS, which originally had a price tag of $39 million including $6 million worth of land. Trustees pointed out that Measure I went a long way, but not far enough. That $39 million price tag for phase I of the high school grew over the years to today's $123 million figure, not to mention the cost of building phase II of CHS - a project that will cost nearly $55 million including a $12 million escalation factor.
"If the bond doesn't pass, we have to consider some very less than desirable options," Superintendent Debbie Flores said. Options include shutting the project down, reducing the scope of the project, bridging the gap with a very expensive loan that will siphon money out of the general fund - a fund the district was forced to cut $4.5 million from already - or selling district owned property valued at $25 million at a very discounted rate.
"We're taking it one day at a time," Flores said. "I hope the voters will see our need, which is very clear to me."
"We have to finish this project (CHS)," she added. "The cost of shutting it down and starting over would add millions to the project, and we have a very crowded high school as it is. In the next few years, we'll be in the 3,000 range at Gilroy High. That school was built for 1,800."
The tentative bond language immediately addresses the only partially funded CHS as well as other district-wide issues such as aging facilities, security and outdated infrastructure. The text of the project list encompasses practically every and any improvement that may need to be made to the districts facilities. A project list, an annual project and spending audit, a citizens' oversight committee and 55 percent voter approval will be required in order to pass this bond. The list doesn't guarantee that any of the projects will be completed. It simply allows the district to use bond funds for listed projects.
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