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I draw your attention to the hand out above. The top portion gives you an overview of the districts proposal consisting of a 33.7 million bond issue and a 20.3 million SAVE revenue bond. If you add these two together and then factor in the interest you actually come up with a total cost of $84 million over the lifetime of the loans. 

 

As you can see in the chart called Financial & Capital overview the cost of their plan shown in column two is $54 million upfront while my plan in column three is just over 14.5 Million upfront which is a whopping 39.3 million difference as shown in column four. Plus, we are debt free in 15 years instead of 20.

 

Oh man Darrel, you might ask? How can you do what the district is planning for 39.3 million less? I can’t! But I do not want to and I don’t thing you do either. Their plan, as described in item II, just below the chart, requires a 40 million structural “Domino Effect” that is eliminated in my plan. As is shown, their plan adds a new wing to the high school at a cost of 21.6 million and another 13.5 million to convert the older high school classrooms to accommodate the middle school moving to that location. Because we do not do all that moving around of grades we save an additional 2.5 million in not having to expand parking and road loops to handle the additional traffic. I know that does not add up to exactly 39.3 million but I am rounding and leaving out some small items like the $30,000 to move playground equipment from Ekstrand to the proposed new complex.

 

Now lets get to the good part. What we can do with that $14,650,000 I am proposing. In Item III you see in A. what can be done to Ekstrand to extend it’s life an estimated 20 years. I add ADA compliant door openers, a new heating and cooling system, new sewer lines, a new roof, and a new asphalt parking lot. All detailed in items 1-5 with the cost estimates totaling just over 3.8 million. We keep a neighborhood school for an investment of $3.8 million. The estimate to tear it down was three quarters of a million.

 

Now we take care of the needs at the intermediate school in item B. With a new roof and HVAC overhaul. That is a big number at just over 5 million. But it needs to be done and right away so we use the SAVE borrowed funds to get it done as soon as possible.

 

In C. The old high school wing is renovated using public bond money for 3.5 million.

 

Item D. Upgrades the intermediate school playground for 1 million

 

Item E. The middle school updates are paid for with public bond money and the security upgrades district wide funded with SAVE money so they can be done right away.

 

Now for some more numbers under item IV. The board has already approved SAVE bond borrowing of 20.3 million. My plan only needs $5,467,000 of that so we do not have to borrow that other 14.8 million saving interest and leaving a nice chunk of change for any building or site problems that might arise in the future. 

Under my plan, your property tax bill will actually be reduced because we have paid our past debt off and under my plan we are taking on a much smaller bond debt.

 

The final chart gives you a summary of what is done under my plan, the cost, and where the money is coming from. As you can see in Phase I the Intermediate school and security measures are handled immediately with borrowed SAVE money. Phase 2 is completed with the 9.2 million bond we as taxpayers should approve in November of 2027. This renovates Ekstrand, renovates the old high school wing, upgrades the intermediate school playground and fixes up the middle school. All this accomplished while saving over $63 million dollars to the taxpayers of Central DeWitt when we factor in interest on the loans.

 

I  believe this to be a financially responsible and viable plan for our school district. I believe our district patrons want to keep our younger students in a separate location. I urge the administration and school board to rethink this massive scuffle of students at a cost that is just not necessary. I ask all of you to urge our board and administration to rethink what they are planning and come back with a plan that if not mine, is similar to mine. 

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