Marion voters to decide tax issue

MARIA STEIN - Voters in the Marion Local School District will decide the fate of the proposed new school facility in November when they vote on an 8.5-mill bond issue set to collect $16 million over about 25 years.

School board members met with Mercer County Auditor Randy Grapner during Monday's meeting, at which Grapner calculated the bond issue's millage. Members passed three resolutions with Grapner's help to ensure they could submit the bond issue to the board of elections before the Aug. 8 deadline without a special meeting.

District treasurer Heather Cramer told the newspaper the board had passed a resolution to certify the maximum maturity of bonds at 25 years, meaning no money could be collected after that time. The other two resolutions declared the necessity of issuing bonds and submitting the question to voters as well as determining to proceed with the bond issue.

The bond issue would have an estimated interest rate of 4.6 percent. The estimated cost to the owner of a $100,000 home would be $297.41 per year. If approved, tax collections would begin in February.

The $16 million would help pay for the proposed new school facility that has been discussed at previous board meetings and two community meetings. The facility would include an auditorium, a three-court gymnasium, an ag and industrial education complex, new locker rooms, a weight room and a community room. Additionally, between 38,000 and 45,000 square feet of land would be set aside for future growth, such as adding classrooms to create a new high school around the facility.

The total amount is down from earlier estimates of $18 million, with school officials planning to set aside roughly $1.5 million the district has saved to help pay for the proposed project and remove some of the burden from taxpayers.

In other business, superintendent Mike Pohlman wrote in his report that maintenance and projects at the school buildings are proceeding. Workers have begun installing door barricade devices, are putting the finishing touches on furnishing a new conference room in the high school and will patch problem areas on the track, he wrote.

Patching for the track will cost $3,400. A representative from Champion Track said the repair could buy the district another three-five years before replacement would be needed. Replacing the track could cost an estimated $130,000, with an additional $50,000 for the base work, according to Pohlman.

District officials over the years have been setting aside money in the permanent improvement fund to pay for the track replacement. However, the amount in the fund is well short of covering the cost, Pohlman wrote.