By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien School Board recently approved a draft of the facilities referendum question that will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot. The question will be formally approved at the July board meeting.
The question asks if the district should be authorized to issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $6.5 million for the public purpose of paying the cost of athletic facility upgrades and related site improvements for the middle and high schools.
If successful, improvements would be made to Borg Stadium seating, concessions, restrooms, and the football field along with new tennis courts and upgrades to the soccer field.
Board member Doreen Grams pointed out the potential upgrades are not just for the high school athletic teams as the facilities are used for academic purposes as well.
Administrator Jill Sorbie said the referendum question includes the middle school because the facilities included are between the middle and high schools and used by students of both schools. She said upwards of 1,300 students use those facilities along with community groups and individual members of the community.
Business Administrator Anthony Klein said the district needs to be careful in how it presents the referendum and its impact on property taxes to the public because some property owners believed the passage of the operational referendum in November of 2018 had a larger impact on their taxes than they were led to believe.
Klein said the impact of this referendum should be small because taxes are expected to decrease in the coming year. Sorbie said that decrease could be about $9.72 per $100,000 of property value. Previously Klein had said he expects a successful referendum to impact taxes by about $4 per $100,000 because of that expected decline.
The complicated part of the equation is that the school district includes students from several municipalities, and homes in different municipalities have different values. Homes with higher property values will be impacted more. Klein said that helped explain why some people saw a bigger than expected impact from the last referendum and why this referendum will impact some property owners differently than others.
Another factor was that two years ago, the Village of Darien paid more in property taxes than it should have. To make up for that, property owners there paid less this year, so those property owners can expect an increase next year to get back to the level they should being paying even if the referendum fails. City of Delavan residents could also see a change because city residences were just reassessed and property values have increased.
In addition, Klein said the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on state revenue will undoubtedly lead to less funding for public schools next year. He presented four scenarios to the board that potentially could impact district finances. When asked for a copy of that document, Sorbie declined to provide it because, she said, it presented potential impacts and scenarios without any exact numbers and she did not want to confuse the public.
The board approved the draft question as it was presented and on July 13 will vote on approving it for the fall ballot.
