Saline MI
2-09-2022 11:58pm

Saline Area Schools May Pitch a Bond Proposal This November

The Saline Area Schools district has begun working on a bond proposal that could appear on the ballot in the November election.

David Raft, recently appointed to principal of operations, and Anna Britnell, director of communications, spoke to the Saline Board of Education about the potential bond proposal at Tuesday's meeting.

The district will soon retire the $124 million bond issue approved by voters in 2000 to build Saline High School, Harvest Elementary School and improve Heritage Elementary School. Raft said retiring that debt gives the district a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to bond to upgrade and maintain schools without increasing taxes.

Despite the age of many of Saline's school buildings - the high school and Harvest elementary are the youngest and they are now 20 years old - the community's commitment to education has helped the district keep facilities in tiptop condition, Raft said.

"Our high school is 20 years old. People come through here and they think it's amazing. That's a credit to our community, our board and our staff," Raft told the board. "As a lifelong resident of Saline, one of the things I'm proud of is that our schools have continued to thrive and stay up with the current times."

The district could raise $180 million over 10 years without raising property taxes beyond what residents pay now, Raft said.

$180 million is nearly three times the $67 million bond passed by voters in 2015. Phase 3 of that bond will fund will soon fund a facelift for the middle school gym, new boilers for the middle school boilers, a new, bus-friendly parking lot at Harvest and roof improvements, among other things.

The district has already begun assessing what might be in a new bond proposal with a capital projects team that has talked with staff and administration. Raft said the team, with the help of a construction management team and architectural firm, has begun working on a list of wants. They've also visited other school districts and colleges as part of an educational needs and facility assessment.

Now, they want to "nail down a list of needs," Raft said.

To that effect, the district will soon begin having stakeholder focus groups throughout the community and will partner with Epic MRI to gauge the public support for a bond issue and learn what people will support.

Britnell said the district has identified 12-15 community groups and organizations they plan to visit to talk about a potential bond project.

This element of public engagement will take place February-April. In April, the capital projects team will refine the scope of the proposal. In May, the team will present its findings to the Board of Education. By May 24, the board could approve or not approve language for the ballot.

The Saline Post has reached out to the district seeking more information about the facility assessments conducted by the district.

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2-11-2022 11:23am

I am also interested in the building assessments.  Were there any energy audits done on all of the buildings recently and if so which improvements would save money in the long term and by how much?  With the water usage likely to go up with the city's water improvements was water use improvements looked at?  Assessing the needs and not wants isn't a bad idea. Budgeting for maintence within there current budget would also be something to have a community view to see if they are maintaining what they have.  Also how much of the buildings are close to full capacity?  Which improvements have saved money and how much of that money was set aside to do more improvements?  

With the supply chain and labor shortage issues the bond work is likely to cost more than waiting a year after the supply chain issues are back to normal levels and it is easier to find workers to do the work.  With the federal government focus on climate change, there might be grants or other money on reducing future costs in energy and water use without millage increases.  

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