Bond cut by $89 million

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough School District staff reduced the size of a proposed school facilities bond by about $89 million after meeting with the borough assembly Tuesday. About half of that comes from cutting the bond’s “life safety” requests by $46 million, and also includes removing projects not deemed absolutely necessary to increase the likelihood of taxpayer acceptance.

As it stands, the bond amount has been sliced from $278 million to $188.5 million after hearing concerns about the size of the bond from assembly members during a joint meeting with the Mat-Su Borough School Board.

Considering the state would pick up at least 60 percent of the cost of the bond, local taxpayers would be responsible for about $76 million at the most, district officials said.

The school board is scheduled to further discuss and make a final decision on the bond package it will send to the borough during its two-day board retreat June 23 and 24 at the MSBSD central office at 501 N. Gulkana St. in Palmer. The meetings are open to the public and the board encourages input from the community.

“Last night we had a work session with the borough assembly on the bond and we left the meeting very pleased,” said Superintendent Ken Burnley during a Wednesday school board meeting at Palmer High School. “I think we enhanced our relationship with them a great deal. We were able to have a free flow of conversations and we had a chance to listen and take notes. They expressed concerns on funds for charter schools and wondered why Iditarod Elementary was part of the package at all.”

Since it’s the assembly that must first be convinced of the need to ask voters for a facilities bond in October, district staff took its suggestions and concerns to heart.

Less than 24 hours after meeting with the assembly, district staff got to work on making cuts, such as removing a proposal to build a new Iditarod Elementary, reducing charter school allocations to playground funding only, reducing energy projects by half, updating generator replacements to reflect local costs, removing all administration building projects, cutting Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades to only the minimum necessary to meet requirements and reducing seismic study/retrofits to recommended state minimums.

Since voters last year turned down a bond to upgrade athletic fields at most of the district’s secondary schools, the only field projects left on the table now involve installing artificial turf on Palmer High’s game field and making improvements to its running track for $2.5 million — or $750,000 if the state picks up 70 percent of the cost — and improving Palmer Middle School’s track for $2 million — or $600,000 with a 70/30 split with the state.

The 2012 state capital budget on the governor’s desk also includes some funding for improvements to the sports fields at Palmer and Colony High schools. The capital budget, if not vetoed by Gov. Sean Parnell, includes $800,000 for Palmer High School and $785,000 for Colony High School.

Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss, who had in the past expressed reservations about building new schools, sounded more in support of the need for new schools and upgraded facilities in his weekly “Mayor’s Minute” podcast.

“It’s a pretty large package that includes both new construction, capital maintenance needs and upgrades on existing facilities,” DeVilbiss says. “But we are growing. We’ve got 76 portables that are operating at capacity. We could immediately fill two new schools that are needed. So it’s not like these are future needs; these are present needs.”

For homeowners, the new bond proposal would cost an estimated $61.40 per year in property taxes on every $100,000 of assessed value if the state picked up 70 percent of the cost of the bond. The state covers at least 60 percent of school facilities bonds.

“If there’s a 70/30 split with the state, we’re now down to $57 million for the local share,” Assistant Superintendent Ken Forrest told the board. “We were at $112 million.”

The question now seems to be whether the bond package should remain in one piece for voters to consider or split up into three sections, as in the past.

School board members have expressed concerns about risking losing the election either way. In the past, splitting bond requests into multiple components has caused voters to approve one or two pieces and turn down a third. However, asking voters to pass such a large bond in one ballot question could also end in failure.

In a recent professional phone survey of 388 Valley residents, 89 percent of which own their own homes, 59 percent of those who certain to vote in the election said they would vote for the bond. When asked if they would vote for the bond if the state picked up 60 percent of the cost, 88 percent of those likely to vote said they would approve it. That was when the bond was at $278 million.

Board member Eric Cordero expressed concerns about the amount of home foreclosures still plaguing the Valley and whether now is the time to ask homeowners to pay even more in property taxes.

“Everyone I’ve talked to has said they will vote against the bond,” Cordero said during a break in the board meeting.

Fellow board member Neal Lacy went so far as to come up with his own bond package that would be in three separate parts: $124 million for new schools, including Iditarod Elementary; $52 million for maintenance needs, including ADA upgrades; and $18.4 million for sports needs. That comes to $184 million.

Lacy is proposing that instead of building a new school for Valley Pathways, perhaps leased space at the old Palmer Carrs location would work. He also believes the district doesn’t need to spend $500,000 on wireless access or thousands on new carpeting for schools.

“People wonder why we’re borrowing money for carpet,” Lacy said. “We need to remember that we are the temporary custodians of the public’s money.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.