Colton school board to send remodel bond out for second round

Colton School Board president Gary Reidner last Thursday told the approximately 25 people who attended a public session in Colton that the board will consider their comments before a proposal for a bond issue goes before the voters a second time April 27.

Reidner said input from the Jan. 6 session in the Colton school cafeteria and comments tonight, Jan. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Uniontown Community Center, will be considered.

A district proposal for a $5.16 million bond issue failed to get the 60 percent required majority in the Nov. 2 general election. The measure fell approximately 50 votes short of the required 60 percent.

Colton school district has 714 registered voters.

School officials say the aging Colton school building is in dire need of remodeling. The electrical and heating system, locker rooms, gymnasium and the roof are all showing signs of age, and infrastructure of the school is inadequate to keep up with the demands of modern-day state education curriculum.

“We’re unable to secure our school. We’re not able to do a lot of things a modern school can do. Electrically, we’re just not up to speed,” Reidner said.

Many residents at last Thursday’s Colton meeting suggested ways of reducing the cost of the proposed project. Others said getting 50 more people to vote “yes” was an achievable goal.

Most of the people who voted “no” did so because shouldering the property tax of such a bond will be expensive, said several members of the audience.

“It’s individually expensive, and we are a victim of our size,” said Leroy Druffel, a taxpayer and former member of the Colton school board.

At an anticipated $3.23 annual levy rate per $1,000 assessed value, the tax on a home valued at $200,000 would be $646. The bond issue is proposed over 20 years.

Druffel also said he’s concerned if the bond measure passes taxpayers would then conclude they are paying too much, and turn around and reject the normal maintenance and operation levy in the district.

“It’s just a big bite in a small community,” Druffel said.

If district voters approve the proposal, Colton would qualify for a $5.82 million matching grant through a modernization program conducted by the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Total cost of the remodel is estimated at $10.2 million. Two or possibly three of the projects in the plan do not qualify for the state-matching program. One of those is expanding the school’s gymnasium.

One audience member suggested some of the items on the Colton project list which do not qualify for state matching could be eliminated, or put on the ballot as a second measure.

Other members of the audience said they thought the voter turnout was down because people were not as informed as they could have been. If passing the bond is only a matter of gaining 50 more votes, then the school should focus on more intense campaigning, they said.

Putting the remodeling proposal on the school Web site, passing out more flyers and perhaps making phone calls were suggested techniques for backing the proposal.