Trending
MARQUETTE -- The Gwinn Area Community Schools Board of Education on Monday passed a resolution calling for a millage, which would go before the voters on Nov. 7, to fund the proposed K-12 central campus.
GACS wants to borrow $45.55 million in general obligation unlimited tax bonds to construct additions to Gwinn Middle/High School, including an elementary school and auxiliary gym additions. The project also would involve improving the middle/high school building, acquiring and installing instructional technology and related equipment for the facility, partially remodeling the bus garage, and improving playgrounds.
The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2024, under current law, is 4.43 mills, or $4.43 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to retire the bond debt is $4.67 mills.
The 4.43 mills is the estimated debt millage associated with the November election in levy year 2024 to satisfy the first debt service payment, which includes principal and interest. The 4.67 mills is the projected average annual debt millage needed to satisfy debt service through the life of the bond, which is 30 years. This is based on estimates of bond interest rates, taxable value growth, and the multiple series amounts and timing.
“We are estimating the need to collect $1,769,253 in the first year,” interim Superintendent Brad Pfluger said in an email. “These are unlimited tax obligations and the amount we levy is dependent on the principal and interest payments, which is dependent on the interest rate we sell the bonds and the amount sold in the first series.”
The school district does not expect to borrow from the state of Michigan for the bonds.
"Having all of our grade levels in one building and having all of our students on one campus allows for the student resources we have to be used better and more efficiently," GACS President John Waldo said at the meeting.
He said the school district has to maintain the "aging structures" of Gilbert and K.I. Sawyer elementary schools.
Voters in 2020 passed a millage request for a sinking millage of 1.5 mills, or $1.50 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation, for four years from 2020 to 2023. The millage was to go toward construction or repair of school buildings, school security improvements, the acquisition or upgrading of technology, and the purchase of real estate for sites for school buildings.
Amy Finkbeiner, GACS business manager, pointed out that this millage is ending, which would reduce what a taxpayer might "feel" on a tax bill should the new millage pass.
Waldo pointed out that the school district will not ask for a renewal on the sinking fund, so asking for the millage for the combined campus provides a "window of opportunity."
"We can't just keep putting money into these buildings that we built in the early '50s and early '60s and expect them to endure another 50 years," Waldo said.
He acknowledged that one of the down sides of the millage proposal is that the community has an aging population on a fixed income.
However, Waldo pointed out that Marquette Area Public Schools attendance is getting full, and Gwinn needs a "viable school" that could entice students to stay in the school district in which they live as opposed to being sent to MAPS.
"Bright shiny things hopefully attract students and families to see that we do have a good thing doing here," Waldo said.
Trustee Brad Johnson expressed his support of the central campus, noting the benefit of having resources in one place, and stressed that students of different grade levels would be in separate areas of the building.
"I have confidence that it's going to pass," Johnson said. "The reason is that we passed that sinking fund, and we've been showing everybody that we're spending the money wisely."
Trustee Kristopher Langlois also said he is in favor of the millage, comparing the pros with the cons.
One of those cons, he said, is the cost.
"That's not going to go away, " Langlois said. "It's going to get bigger."
The pros, he said, include "hundreds of years" of teaching experience in one building as well as more space.
"You're going to have an extra gym," Langlois said. "You're going to be able to do so many events at the same time."
He also said the project would "wipe the slate clean."
"Everything's getting updated," Langlois said. "It's not just we're building another little building and everything else. We'll figure that out."
Finkbeiner said that in addition to information on the new millage being put on the GACS website at www.gwinnschools.org, a calculator would allow people to estimate their taxes provided they use taxable value, not market value.
She estimated that a special election would cost $10,000.