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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2019)
10A | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2019 | SIUSLAW NEWS SMS BOND from page 1A “The survey revealed the priority issues among those in the community include the proposal for a new middle school because of its current lack of class- room space and its current inability to meet the state’s school building safety and fire codes,” wrote the Siu- slaw News. The survey also conclud- ed that 64 percent of the re- spondents gave the district a positive rating. “The Siuslaw School Dis- trict receives strong support from its community through a very high performance rating. … This is a very high rating for a school district,” the survey concluded. In 1999, bond interest rates were at a 30-year low. It was projected that the bond would cost taxpayers $1.22 per $1,000 of assessed value. The Siuslaw School Board Chairperson at the time, John Balcom, said, “It is a lot of money. It is not cheap to build schools these days. We need to fund schools, but that means asking tax- payers, some who are on a fixed income, some who are low income, to ante up and be a part of that. It is some- thing we do in this country. We take responsibility for educating our kids, and it is expensive to do that.” To pass the bond, the Siu- slaw School Board appoint- ed four committees that met in 34 public meetings in two years, which included more than 50 community members, parents, students, board members and staff. The final public meetings were held in April and May before the election. The bond passed on May 18, 1999, after 55 percent of voters turned out for the election. Those in favor numbered 2,920 compared to 1,879 against. Steve Waddell, then the Siuslaw School District Su- perintendent, said, “I think there was a critical mass that understood what the prob- lems were with the school. … The district has always spent its money wisely and conservatively so that peo- ple knew that we weren’t asking for money to be spent in a frivolous manner.” According to Blake, it was a 20-year bond that was ini- tially for $15,635,000; in to- tal, with interest, it ended up being $26,652,168, all paid by the taxpayers. “This bond was designed to be a ‘sunset bond,’ so it started off really high and has taken a dip down,” she said, with local taxpayers in the last year of the bond paid 90 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for the final piece of it. “Common practice now designs the bonds to stay as consistent as possi- ble through the life of the bond,” Blake said, add- ing that the “sunset bond” method would not work for the community now. “To ac- complish that with today’s dollar would not be ideal for our taxpayers. They would take a pretty big hit at the top.” According to Blake, the rate has been around that 90 cents since she has worked at the district. “Next year, when people get their taxes in November, that will come off. That’s ex- citing for everybody that we made it through the period,” she said. The Siuslaw School Dis- trict is continuing to look at ways to increase com- munity awareness about the current state of the district’s buildings, with the Facilities Advisory Committee begin- ning to plan a future bond centered around the re- placement of Siuslaw High School. “With the middle school bond, we’ve learned a lot, even for those of us who haven’t been here through the whole thing,” Blake said. “We’ve learned a lot about the project from start to finish, including all of the ‘what to do right,’ ‘what to do better’ kind of things to take into consideration for the future. We’re excited about that.” The Facilities Advisory Committee will be working to increase awareness of the district’s successes to resi- dents in the Florence area. Co-chair Aric Sneddon told the Siuslaw School Board last week, “We want to promote community recognition that the middle school bond was paid off, so we want to make sure that the district does make an effort to let the community know that it was paid for, and early.” “It was important for them that we celebrate this with the community,” Blake said. “Our main message is just ‘thank you’ for saying yes to these kiddos. I can’t imagine what we would be like in a position mainte- nance budget wise if we had one more older building.” For the 2019-20 school year, Siuslaw Middle School is projected to have up to 360 students, an increase from previous years. “We usually have around 300, but because of our class sizes coming in from the elementary school, there’s three in a row that are all hitting next year at the middle school,” Blake said. “We’ve been able to absorb that capacity. This year, we were able to add in general funds to add an aide at each grade level. We’ve hired an additional certified teacher for the staff, and so we’ve cause the taxpayers paid their bills, and paid them timely, we were able to put it in specific funds specifi- cally for debt service,” Blake said. “It generated enough into future projects to con- tinue, maybe even some of the upgrades that are com- ing due as normal mainte- nance after 20 years.” She cautioned that Siu- approved per state laws. “Our goal is to contin- ue to put that money right back into our properties. … It doesn’t go to salaries or general operations or any- thing like that. It would be dedicated to capital proj- ects,” she added. In conclusion, “We want to thank the taxpayers for saying yes and seeing the project through,” Blake said. “Now we have a won- derful building that we’ve been able to keep main- tenance up on and every- thing, and it will continue to serve us well for quite a while.” For more information on the Siuslaw School District, visit siuslaw.k12.or.us. “It is not cheap to build schools these days. We need to fund schools, but that means asking taxpayers, some who are on a fixed income, some who are low income, to ante up and be a part of that. It is something we do in this country. We take responsibility for educating our kids, and it is expensive to do that.” — John Balcom, 1999 Siuslaw School Board Chairperson been able to manage all that with our current building and keep the flow of every- thing going. It’s awesome.” The district has also been able to keep up with main- tenance requirements at the middle school due to the newness of the systems. “The bond reset the clock on that whole building in order for us to keep up on that routine maintenance,” Blake said. “We are proud that we have been able to maintain as expected, and there have been no surpris- es or additional money that has needed to be spent on it that we didn’t already plan for.” The district will now work with the State of Or- egon to determine next steps. “We are proud to say be- Visit us on the web T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM interest to have just under $650,000 left over after all bond proceeds have been paid. 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