Mt. Pleasant School District to Present $39M ‘No Frills’ Bond

For the third time since 2014, Mount Pleasant School District officials are prepared to schedule a major capital projects referendum for voters to consider this fall.

The Mount Pleasant Board of Education reached consensus last Wednesday to propose a roughly $39 million infrastructure bond. The tentative date for the bond vote is Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Trustees could vote to decide what would be included in a referendum and the maximum amount it could borrow as early as tomorrow (Wednesday) night’s meeting at the Westlake High School library.

Director of Business Administration Andrew Lennon said the board had not finalized the projects. However, some of the major items being considered are the replacement of boilers at Westlake High School; ventilation system upgrades at the high school and Westlake Middle School; new sidewalks at all four district schools; electrical system upgrades; and making the schools completely compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

There would also be parking added at the high school. In addition, the district is looking to make parking safer at the district’s school campuses by creating greater separation between student drop-off points for the buses and where cars pass.

Lennon said the district is continuing to analyze the cost of each project, and hopes to have that information for this week’s meeting.

Guiney said district officials have estimated the maximum cost to be about $39.1 million. That would translate to a maximum annual cost of the bond, proposed to be 15 years, to be about $310 in the third and fourth years for the average homeowner. Payments on the bond would be phased in over a three-year period after passage.

Before agreeing to a final figure, trustees debated whether that number is too high. While they agreed there was a need for all the projects listed, there were concerns $39.1 million would be rejected by voters.

Last week the board also discussed the possibility of a $29.6 million, before coming to the consensus on the larger figure. Trustee John Piazza said the projects included by the district were all necessary. The difference between the maximum costs to homeowners between the two bonds is only $80 per year, Piazza said.

“This work must be done,” he said.

The district must work with the school PTAs to impress parents how important it is to vote, Piazza added.

Board President Eric Schulze also mentioned that all of the items listed on the larger bond were critically important infrastructure projects. Work that had been included in previous bonds, such as the high school auditorium renovation, would be excluded, he said.

Schulze said he wanted a bond that a majority of voters would support.

“We need to figure out what is going to pass,” he said.

Schulze and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Susan Guiney said the $39.1 million referendum would be a “no frills” bond.

Residents who attended last week’s meeting also debated the issue. Elementary PTA President Evelyn Varga said she believed the district needed to have the work done, but added that she was concerned it would fail. She pointed to the two previous bond defeats in November 2014 and March 2015.

Theresa Fowler, a former trustee, said if the board concludes all of the proposed work is required, they have an obligation to do pursue the $39.1 million bond.

Voters soundly rejected three bond propositions offered, which mainly focused on infrastructure projects at the middle school and high school. The total borrowing authority for all three propositions was about $43 million.

Voters also turned aside a $55.8 million single-proposition referendum in November 2014 by a nearly 2-1 margin.