Going to the voters

Members of the Medford School Board made it official Monday night when they unanimously approved sending a $22,665,000 referendum question to district voters.

The formal question language states the purpose of the funds is for “construction on an addition and renovation at the high school including for technical education, classrooms and accessibility updates; capital maintenance, remodeling, safety and systems improvements at the Elementary, Middle and High School; and acquisition of of furnishings, fixtures and equipment.”

District administrator Laura Lundy explained the total was reached by taking the top-ranked items in a community survey completed in July and the dollar amounts for each of those project areas. Lundy noted that in preparing the question, the district lowered the amount estimated for the update of major buying systems and infrastructure throughout the district because last month board members expressed the projected costs of things like replacing boilers was higher than market costs. Lundy also noted that the total of the top five projects highlighted was actually $22,668,000 but it was lowered to comply with a state law that requires referendum request amounts to be in multiples of five.

Specific project areas include the ren-

See SCHOOL on page 4 ovation of the high school bathrooms at $1.7 million, remodeling and expansion of the tech ed. classrooms to include connecting the tech ed. building to the high school at $6.4 million, and remodeling and expanding high school English and science classrooms with an ADA accessible entrance from the lower floor at $6.2 million. Updates to building systems includes things like boilers, plumbing, parking lots and roofs and totals $7.9 million. Remodeling the bathrooms in the middle school auditorium entrance at $465,000.

Many of the projects were initially identified as needs as part of the district’s 10-year maintenance plan. Through a series of community meetings held in the district since last fall, the request was brought to the board this spring to consider a referendum. The list was further refined and reduced after a community survey gauging community support for various projects.

The dollar amount was looked at in order to maximize the amount of state aid the district will be able to receive for the money spent. The state aid formula reimburses district taxpayers for a percentage of the amount of money spent on projects, with varying levels of reimbursement.

Medford School District currently qualifies for 71% reimbursement. Finance director Audra Brooks noted that the exact amount that will be reimbursed at the highest level is a moving target, but that projections from the district’s bond council indicate the $22.668 million requested would be in that funding level.

“It could trickle into the third level, but we should be pretty good,” Brooks said.

What this means to taxpayers is that of the $22,668,000, the state will pay about $16.1 million with the local taxpayers paying for about $6.6 million over 20 years.

According to Brooks, the projected tax rate impact for the referendum will be about $0.47 per $1,000 of equalized value. Brooks also noted that the projected tax rate for the district is expected to drop from the current $5.87 per $1,000 of value to $5.53 per $1,000 of value.

With this projected decrease in the school district’s base tax rates, if the referendum is successful, the net increase will be about $0.13 per $1,000 of about $13 a year on a $100,000 home. The actual impact will be determined based on factors including interest rates at which the district can borrow the funds. With interest rates forecast to drop at a federal level later this fall, this would potentially lower impact to taxpayers.

In keeping with state law and bonding requirements, school board members were required to have three separate roll call votes related to the approving the question and sending it to the voters. All three passed unanimously.

The general election will be held on November 5.

• In other business, board members received staffing updates for the start of the school year. Overall most positions are filled with the elementary school needing to fill some special education aide spots due to transfers to other buildings.

• Approved the personnel report including the formal approval of Tara Abel as the new MAMS assistant principal replacing Jodi Butler who was promoted to the principal position.

• Received updates on the summer projects in the district, the new entrance doors at the middle school have been installed with one window needing to be replaced due to it breaking during installation. Retaining wall work is also being completed. New fence around the elementary playgrounds has also be installed. This was done after requests from parents and to improve student safety.

• Approved second reading for policies for family service account charges, selection of architects, board inspection and acceptance of new facilities, and retirement of facilities with no changes from prior readings. Board members also received an update that new policies regarding the changes due to federal Title IX anti-discrimination law changes were currently being reviewed by attorneys to ensure they are in compliance. Lundy noted that the new rules require very specific steps if a complaint is made and they want to ensure district has the procedures in place to address them.