Carroll studies potential bond items

A committee of parents, residents and Carroll employees are studying options for a possible future bond election.

The Capital Needs Planning Committee has been meeting since October and met most recently last week. District officials have been giving overviews of facilities and equipment, highlighting potential areas for replacements or additions.

At the Jan. 6 meeting, 35 members were divided into subcommittees on building use (especially elementary capacity); technology and instructional programming; maintenance, transportation, safety and security; and extracurricular and co-curricular facilities.

The subcommittees will meet over the next few months to look at needs in more detail and come up with a list of priority items.

Julie Thannum, assistant superintendent for board and community relations, said the committee would develop a recommendation to deliver to trustees, ideally in April. She told committee members that their job was to submit items they evaluated as the greatest needs, but the school board would make the decision about whether to call an election and what to include.

The subcommittees will be touring facilities and reviewing options identified by staff members. Much of the focus is on updating older facilities like Carroll Senior High School, built in 1993, and updating some campuses to make them more equitable with the newest schools, Carroll Middle and Walnut Grove Elementary.

Lewis Wilks with U.S. Capital Advisors talked to the committee about Carroll’s tax rate capacity. Without increasing the district’s current bond debt rate of 35.5 cents, the district could raise $137 million in a bond election. Another option at the current rate would be to have $69 million in 25-year debt and $9 million in short-term debt paid out in three $3 million installments.

The short-term debt could be used for buses, technology, band instruments, roofs and other big-ticket items that have shorter life expectancies, officials said.

Thannum said that the earliest possible date for a potential bond election would be November, based on the current timeline.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 10:16 AM with the headline "Carroll studies potential bond items."