After paying down principal on 2014 bond, GISD calculates no increase for voters
“We’ve got about 90 days or so to get out and really educate how you can add $8.1 million without increasing the tax rate.”
Explaining Gladewater’s proposed bond isn’t a simple task, Gladewater ISD Supt. Rae Ann Patty says, but there’s time to get the word out before voters head to the polls this spring.
“We can educate our community and our population, ‘This is not going to change your rate,'” Patty told trustees Monday ahead of their unanimous vote to call a May 2 bond election to cover a variety of projects: “We do have some needs. I just believe our kids deserve what we can do for them and to provide them with learning environments and school buses.”
Back in 2014, GISD voters signed off on a 30-year, $35 million bond to fund the construction of Gladewater Middle School and renovate Weldon Elementary. Locking in an interest rate of just 2 percent, for the past 12 years a substantial portion of the district’s payments have been applied to principal, not interest.
Like paying down a credit card balance, there’s now enough breathing room at the top to take on a similar amount of new debt that won’t impact the current Interest & Sinking rate of $0.25336 per $100 valuation.
So, no tax increase.
If approved in May, the new issue will be paid off within 15 years, respectively. It will not change the payment schedule for the 2014 bond, with payments continuing through 2045 as planned.
Through the 2026 bond proposal, the district is asking voters’ sign-off on:
• upgrading the school’s buses with three-point seat belts (according to Senate Bill 546) at an estimated cost of $2 million)
• replacing air conditioning units
• funding heat exchangers
• painting and beautifying Gladewater High School and Gladewater Primary School
• upgrading safety measures to include keyless entry to the exterior doors of GHS and GPS
• upgrading GISD radio and replacing intercom systems
• replacing GHS chillers and boilers
• building a Pole Barn for CTE Ag
Consultation with the bond steering committee the past month identified more potential projects to enhance Career & Technical Education opportunities (see separate story in this issue) and, perhaps, fix doors and windows at GHS and GPS, depending on the cost of asbestos mitigation.
Numerous costs, especially the state-mandated bus upgrade, are unavoidable.
That said, “We’re going to need to educate the population because when they hear that there’s no tax increase,” Patty added, “they’re going to want to see the math behind that.”
GISD School Board Vice President Jeff Cook ran Monday’s meeting in the absence of president Chris Thompson. Cori Arevalo’s motion, seconded by Danielle Budro, was unanimously approved 6-0 with little discussion.
It now goes to the voters May 2.
A subsequent unanimous vote Feb. 9 allocated up to $65,000 to fund a bond public relations firm for the effort.
“It’s really a tax extension of what we’re already paying,” board member Garth Cockerell said. “It’s a continuation of what we’ve already got.”