Levy possible for Cd'A School District this summer

A school plant facilities levy could soon be coming to residents in the Coeur d'Alene School District.

A swift timeline would be necessary to tackle a number of items on the district's deferred maintenance backlog, which is $25 million today and expected to grow to $68 million by 2027 if repairs are not made. The levy would establish a pool of funds for deferred maintenance projects and school safety needs, which at this time have no established funding source. Deferred maintenance includes air heating and cooling system upgrades, roof repairs, paving work, replacing hot water heaters, new carpeting, drinking fountains, alarm systems and security cameras.

"We are just struggling all around, not only with facilities but with staffing," Coeur d'Alene Superintendent Shon Hocker said Monday during the school board meeting.

He recommended the board immediately move forward with the facilities levy rather than wait because the district's maintenance and operations levy will be up for a vote in March.

"I don't think we should go to our community asking for both at the same time," he said. "I think that's a lot to bite off for any community member and I think we need to be more specific. I also think that, in good conscience to our community, we can address some of these safety and maintenance challenges in our community earlier rather than later."

A school plant facilities levy is a property tax levy. Voters decide whether to approve to allow the district to levy a set amount each year, for up to 10 years. Funds are deposited into a capital projects fund each year in order to cover construction costs. This avoids interest costs to borrow funds. This kind of levy generally requires 55% or 60% voter approval to pass.

"It's an aggressive timeline," Hocker said to the trustees. "You would have to, as a board, formally approve some sort of an SPFL, whatever that number would be, and that has to be presented to the county for the ballot by July 11."

Hocker made his recommendation after a presentation by members of the district's long-range planning committee, who found deferred maintenance projects to be the district's No. 1 priority after several meetings and site visits.

The board is expected to have more discussion and make a decision about a facilities levy in the next few weeks. If board members move forward with the levy, the election would be held Aug. 30.

The last time Coeur d'Alene held a plant facility levy was in August 2010, and it passed with 65% of the vote. That funded Coeur d'Alene's share of building the Kootenai Technical Education Campus in Rathdrum. Voters in the Post Falls and Lakeland districts passed similar levies on the same ballot to fund their portions of that joint project.

Prior to that, Coeur d'Alene School District voters approved school plant facilities levies in May 2002 for $23.07 million for four years, which passed with 82.24% voter approval, and in May 1998, which was for $19.81 million for four years and passed with a 77.6% approval.