School project should have lighter tax burden
Students fly kites in the fields outside of Ruder School in this file photo. The fields will be further developed into sports fields this summer. A school bond sale to finance the elementary school projects came in with a favorable rate, which should net the average taxpayer significant savings on their bill.
Hannah Schweikert had the hot hand for Columbia Falls, with 26 against Browning. (Chris Peterson photo)
The school bond recently passed by voters isn’t expected to cost local taxpayers as much as originally thought.
Taxpayers last fall approved a $37 million measure to build a new elementary school at Glacier Gateway and remodel Ruder Elementary School.
The school board, however, decided to initially sell $32 million in bonds at a premium. The net effect of that sale actually generated about $36 million in cash for the project. The district, in turn, will pay a higher interest rate on the bonds over the duration of the 20-year life of the loan.
Even so, that rate is quite low — just 2.55 percent, district clerk Dustin Zuffelato notes.
The result is a taxpayer with a home assessed for $200,000 will see a tax bill for the bonds of about $190 annually. Right now, taxpayers are already paying $81 a year on the junior high bond, which will be paid off this year. So the net effect on the $200,000 home is an increase of about $110 annually.
The previous projection would have increased the tax bill by almost $200 a year.
In short, there’s a significant savings expected, provided the school doesn’t have to borrow the remaining $5 million authorized by voters.
The average annual debt was initially projected to be about $2.78 million. Now it’s projected to be about $2.3 million.
The project continues to progress. The board will likely choose a contractor to run the Ruder project next month. Work on the ball fields between Ruder and the junior high should start this year and the reconfiguration of the junior high entrance will likely be done this summer.
The Gateway project probably won’t be bid until this fall. That will be a separate bid from the Ruder project.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected from its previous version.