Cd'A School District to seek $32.7M bond

COEUR d'ALENE - Voters in the Coeur d'Alene School District will be asked in August to approve a $32.7 million bond to pay for facilities and technology upgrades at Bryan, Borah, Sorensen and Winton elementary schools and Canfield Middle School.

Trustees voted unanimously Monday to approve the amount recommended in February by the district's Long Range Planning Committee, with a caveat. The nearly $5 million included in the bond amount for upgrades at Winton Elementary will be set aside and held until a study is conducted to determine if it is financially feasible to move forward with major renovations, including a gym addition, at the small, downtown school.

The bond term will be 13 years with a rate to taxpayers of 42 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Prior to the vote, and at an earlier workshop, some trustees expressed concern about using long-term financing to pay for technology items that would not last throughout the course of the bond.

At Monday's meeting, the trustees also considered reducing the bond amount by $854,214 and eliminating some of the technology items.

"We have had considerable discussion about the bond. We have a need for computers, projectors and document cameras. How are we going to do that?" said board chair Sid Fredrickson.

Fredrickson said the trustees have considered the possibility of asking voters to concurrently approve a short-term, possibly two-year school plant facilities levy to finance the technology.

Trustee Tom Hamilton said he and Fredrickson are concerned only about including funding for the technology items in the bond, not the facilities upgrades to the buildings.

"I do believe that the infrastructure improvements belong in the bond," Hamilton said, adding that he believes a bond is the appropriate financing method for the building upgrades.

Superintendent Hazel Bauman said while the trustees are correct that some of the technology items won't last through the life of the bond, it is not unusual for this to occur with other items funded by bonds in school districts, like carpets and furniture.

"I suppose an argument could be made that those first payments are paying those things off, and the later payments are paying off the bricks and the mortar and the steel structures," Bauman said.

She said the same thinking applies to 30-year mortgages on homes with new appliances that don't last 30 years.

Bauman said that in the past, the Coeur d'Alene district has added technology as a line item to supplemental maintenance and operations levies, and they could continue to do that as bond-funded technology items need to be replaced.

Hamilton said that could be a good compromise solution.

Trustee Diane Zipperer made the motion that they accept the full $32.7 million bond recommendation.

Hamilton seconded the motion, stating that it was his understanding that deducting the $854,324 for technology would not have a significant impact on the cost of the bond to taxpayers.

He also said he was seconding the motion with the assurance that certain controls would be in place should voters approve the bond. Following the meeting, Hamilton told The Press some of those controls include monthly budget reports as the project progresses and tight control of change orders to avoid problems that have occurred during previous taxpayer financed school construction projects.

Regarding the funds set aside for Winton, Hamilton said the feasibility study will consider whether consolidation of the school with the district's other under-populated downtown elementary schools would be more practical and cost-effective than completing the facilities upgrades.

Winton cannot accommodate more than two sections of each grade, he said, and the small piece of land upon which Winton sits does not allow for expansion.

The trustees' approval of the bond amount was met with applause.

Following the meeting, Christa Hazel, a Bryan Elementary parent and former Long Range Planning Committee member, said she believes the committee put together a good bond package that stresses safety and security for students.

"I'm ecstatic that this is going to go to a public vote," Hazel said.