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-
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interest to have just under
$650,000 left over after all
bond proceeds have been
paid. Our idea at the school
district would be to roll that
slaw School District would
have to work with the state
to make sure there aren’t
further challenges, and any
projects would have to be
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How To Participate
The fee to participate is $20. An ad for the Community Wide Garage Sale with a map of all participation
sales will be published in the Siuslaw News on September th and th. Because of print deadlines,
the registration deadline is 5pm Thursday August 2019.
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Maps will be available in the Siusalw News, online and at the Florence Visitors Center.
Please post signs only on private property with the owner’s consent.
Posting signs on City utility poles, street or signal light poles, and median strips is against the municipal code.
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