School board ponders new bond package

PALMER — The school board is considering options for possibly reviving a raft of bonds that failed by a tight margin in the last election.

The bonds are essentially the same package the school district asked for in the October election, except the turf field for Palmer High School, which the borough assembly cut out last time, has been restored. The measure failed by 544 votes.

The total amount asked for is $34.7 million. It would go to replacing roofs, improving access, upgrading fire alarms and replacing deteriorated carpet in a number of Valley schools. But, the district’s maintenance director Henry Cottle pointed out at Wednesday’s school board meeting, the state has agreed to pick up the bulk of that, splitting the bill 70-30 with borough property tax payers.

That 70-30 split is a standing offer the state has with school districts. But, with budgets on the state level as tight as they are, it’s looking more like that split is going to change, and not in the taxpayers’ favor. And the work is needed, Cottle said. If it doesn’t go out to bond, it’s work that will still have to get done.

“If this doesn’t go forward, the borough is going to have to find a way to do this at 100 percent,” he said.

Some on the school board didn’t seem convinced.

“I think the message was clear the last time that the taxpayers don’t really want to do this right now,” said board member Erick Cordero. “It was close. But I kept hearing from people, ‘We’re not ready for this. Especially with our recession.’”

Board member Jim Dunleavy wondered about the timing and whether it was worth calling a special election in April.

“We could look at the October election,” he said.

But Cottle pointed out that delays cost money as prices for construction materials and other things rise. If the bonds were passed in April, construction could start in the summer. If they had to wait until October, they’d be pushed back a year, meaning an 8 percent increase in costs. And 8 percent of $34 million is quite a bit.

“That’s more than the $80,000 to have the election,” Cottle said.

Another issue is that a few of these projects, most notably the turf field in Palmer, are partially funded. There’s state money set aside — in Palmer’s case, $500,000 — but not enough to complete the project.

“Right now the state legislature is looking at any money that we have that we’re not using and they’re looking at pulling that back,” Cottle said.

Board member Sarah Welton brought up the idea that this sort of thing could be a big jobs creator in the Valley.

Board president Colleen Vague brought up the idea of bond fatigue, something the borough assembly worried about when it approved the bonds for the ballot in the first place, since it came on the heels of a school security bond package that passed the previous year.

Vague said that pretty soon the district is going to need to sell bonds for a new school. And a year later another school. And another school a year after that.

“We do in fact have that bond fatigue effect that’s going on,” Vague said. “Are we putting building schools in jeopardy by putting this bond out there, making them vote on it twice?”

The board only discussed the bonds at Wednesday’s meeting and scheduled a vote on the matter for its meeting Jan. 6.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.