The Monroe City Council unanimously voted to adopt a resolution proclaiming its support of the Monroe School District's Proposition No. 1, a general obligation bond initiative that will be on the ballot in April.
Monroe School District Superintendent Ken Hoover presented to council, along with Monroe School Board member Nancy Truitt-Pierce on Jan. 27.
Currently, property owners in Monroe pay $1.48 per $1,000 of assessed value for bonds that were used for the construction of Monroe High School, Fryelands Elementary, Hidden River Middle School and the renovation of Maltby Elementary.
In 2016, all of the school district's existing bond debt will be paid off, which enables them to acquire a new bond by simply continuing the same rate. If approved by voters, a renewal of the $1.48 tax rate could generate $110.9 million. Additionally, the district would qualify for $21.3 million in state construction assistance funds.
The money would be used to modernize Park Place Middle School, modernize and expand Salem Woods Elementary School, expand Hidden River Middle School, consolidate and expand Frank Wagner Elementary School and catch up on various facility improvements and maintenance projects throughout the district.
They would also be able to construct all-weather ballfields at both Park Place Middle School and Monroe High School. Currently, Monroe High School students have to travel off-campus to participate in certain sports because the fields behind the school have poor drainage.
"So we'll have significantly more fields available, especially for things like tournaments,GÇ¥ Truitt-Pierce said.
The modernization of Park Place Middle School is considered high-priority.
"Modernizing Park Place Middle School is the central piece GÇô it's most of the budget GÇô and the biggest reason we want to do that is for security,GÇ¥ Truitt-Pierce said. "That school was built as a California model, so it has open airways in every part of the campus, which makes it really hard to secure.GÇ¥
In order to better guide its decision making and get a feel for the community's priorities, the Monroe School District conducted listening tours in both 2013 and 2014, and formed a Capital Facilities Steering Committee made up of volunteers. The resulting list of projects was compiled after assimilating the data obtained through that process.
"We think with this kind of an upgrade, we're going to see a lot more families moving into town, and one of the things we think is good about that is that it's really good for business,GÇ¥ Truitt-Pierce said. "One of the best things you can do is create consumers.GÇ¥
For more information on the April 28 Proposition No. 1 initiative, visit www.monroe.wednet.edu/PAGES/ELECTION_INFO_PAGES/election-info2015.html.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment