Referendum survey answers at least one question
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
The East Troy School District recent referendum survey came back with lots of numbers for the School Board to consider, but by and large the biggest concern on taxpayers minds is the cost of the facility needs at the schools.
About 80 percent of the 528 respondents said they would be willing to support a referendum that was the proper solution to the districts needs; the community members who took the survey said they would prefer the referendum not exceed the $20.8 million the district can borrow without having an increase on the tax levy.
When asked, “I would vote ‘yes’ on a referendum question if I felt it were the correct solution and it had a tax impact of $50 per year on a $200,000 home,” about 63 percent of all respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed. The survey result report noted that the number falls to just slightly more than 50 percent for non-parents. For the $100 and $150 options, support dropped to 45.8 percent and 33.8 percent, respectively.
“I want to thank the community for its support,” District Administrator Dr. Chris Hibner said. “Thank you for completing the survey and first and foremost, for your support.”
“It can’t be lost that the community has stated they will support a referendum to move the district forward,” Hibner continued. “I think it’s crucial to acknowledge that and thank everyone.”
In response to the community’s answers, the board members voted Monday night at its working referendum meeting to limit the amount on the November referendum they’re working on to the $20.8 million.
With the extensive facilities needs facing the district and the community’s desire to keep the cost down, the board is now faced with some tough decisions as to what to cut from the plans and still provide safe and adequate learning spaces for the district’s students.
High School Principal Rick Penniston said he thought some renovation costs, which are at about $6.37 million, could be trimmed from the plans at the High School, but that he and his staff felt very strongly about keeping the proposed additions and especially not to cut anything from the tech ed expansion plans. He said these items addressed critical needs at the school and, in his opinion, had to stay.
How much can be cut from the High School renovations is yet to be seen, but it’s not likely to be enough to do the major renovations and/or additions at Doubek Elementary that are also needed.
The board members had a hard time determining, from the survey results, whether the community would support more money being spent on the Elementary School issues or the High School issues. The survey responses on this question were split fairly even down the middle with a couple of percentage points more at the High School needs, but it wasn’t a significant enough difference to help the board members know if the community really supported one over the other.
There is still the issue of Chester Byrnes and whether to invest in the school, or abandon it completely. It is something the board acknowledged that will have to be decided upon very soon to make the deadline for a November referendum.
Board members Martha Bresler and Dawn Buchholtz were in favor investing in Chester Brynes while board President Ted Zess and board member Steve Lambrechts were less inclined to invest in the building, preferring to improve and expand on Doubek.
With the district’s survey results indicating the community wants to keep the elementary school in the village proper on the Doubek/Chester Byrnes site over building a new elementary school on the Prairie View site, the board is working on the best solution to do that.
With the $1.4 million work that has to be done at the Middle School for the drop off/pick up points and other safety concerns and the necessary costs for fixtures, furnishing, and the like for all the schools, the board is basically left with about $18 million to play with for the High School and Elementary School needs.
The additions on the High School will cost about $5.3 million. That amount included none of the renovation costs for the school and even with cutting some of those costs, the district will still fall short of the $12-13 million needed to completely renovate Doubek and put on the addition that would be needed.
With many questions about how much can be cut where and still have a viable plan, the board members tasked the district’s architecture firm to bring back numbers on what it would cost to bring Chester Byrnes up to date, including a new floor for the gym. The members also asked the firm to look at the proposed work at Doubek and see if it was possible to get that number to somewhere around $9 million to $10 million. Penniston will be meeting with the architects as well, to see how much can be saved in renovations at the High School without losing what is needed.
The board is holding another working referendum meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 28.
