Dear District Resident:
On Tuesday, September 27, 2016, you will have an opportunity to vote on a capital project that is designed to address critical facilities work in each of our buildings. The project items come directly from a needs assessment that the State Education Department requires our District complete every five years to be sure we are planning for and maintaining the district’s assets.
We presented most of the work detailed in a capital project newsletter last December. However, that project included $12 million of additional work, including a significant addition to the high school to house a new gymnasium. We received a lot of constructive feedback when that project was voted down. Over the past several months we have continued to listen, meeting with various representatives from the community. Based on your input and much planning we are proposing a project that is much more narrow in scope and focuses on our critical needs.
This project includes the replacement of many items home and business owners will understand are a part of maintaining a property: rooftops, heating and ventilation units, pavement, curbing and sidewalks, updated fire alarm systems, and flooring. We also must replace our track surface and are therefore expanding the track to a full 8 lane track, an improvement that’s smart to do now.
This project does NOT include a new HS gym, office relocations, renovation of the existing media center, or replacement of the athletic field lighting system. There is more work to be done in our schools, there always will be—that’s part of the responsibility of owning and maintaining school buildings. We have been extremely cognizant of the cost to the taxpayer of the work we’ve included in this project scope.
All work will be paid for using a combination of state aid funding, cash from the capital project reserve established by our taxpayers, and the local tax share. The amount of this project that is eligible for state aid has been maximized and our current debt from previous projects has been carefully considered to result in a proposed project of $27,795,000, including $1,301,000 in capitalized interest. This means, for example, that for a $100,000 “full/equalized value” home, a resident with Senior/STAR would pay an additional $7 per year, a primary resident with STAR would pay $13 per year, and a non-STAR resident would pay $19 per year.
By contrast, the $38,772,000 project presented and defeated by the voters in December 2015 would have cost the same taxpayer up to an additional $47.87 annually. The December 2015 Project did not include the capitalized interest we’ve included for this project, therefore we’ve reduced the scope of work from the December project by $12,278,000.
We know how much pride this community has in SGI. Capital projects like this one help to keep our facilities in good working order and improve the conditions under which our children learn and thrive. We need and appreciate your support. We encourage you to learn more at the Public Hearing on September 20 and to vote on September 27, 2016.
Thank you,
Kimberly Moritz, Superintendent and Allison Duwe, BOE President