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Mid-Prairie holding bond vote Tuesday
Kalen McCain
Feb. 27, 2022 11:43 am
The Mid-Prairie school district is holding a bond referendum Tuesday that will decide the future of many big-ticket projects.
The district’s current maximum debt service levy is $2.70 per $1,000 of valuation. If passed, the resolution would raise that maximum to $4.05, but would only increase the actual tax levy by 60 cents, to $3.30.
That levy is not the entirety of Mid-Prairie’s tax rate.
“Our current total property tax rate in the district is $13.23 per $1,000 of taxable value,” Superintendent Mark Schneider said in a column. “Of that $13.23, $2.70 is designated for paying off the debt created by the successful passage of the 2014 bond referendum … referred to as the ‘Debt Service Levy.’“
Raising that debt service levy would give the district the funds to sell $26.3 million general obligation bonds, a sum that — when combined with sales tax and private donations — would cover the costs of $37.6 million in big ticket projects.
Those projects include the following:
- New classrooms at the middle school, East Elementary and high school
- Renovations to the middle school commons and family consumer science area
- A new high school auditorium
- A new high school wrestling and weight facility
- New lights on the softball diamond and repairs to the high school track
- parking lot improvements and expansions at East and West elementary schools as well as the high school.
The bond issue ballot will contain two questions, both of which need to pass with at least 60% of the vote to take effect.
“If the first question asking permission to sell $26.3 million in bonds passes by 60%, but the second question asking permission to raise the debt limit to $4.05 does not get the 60% needed, the school board will not get to proceed with the construction projects as proposed and will reassess the situation,” Schneider said in the column.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following locations.
Residents of the Kalona precinct (in the city of Kalona, English River township or Jackson township) can vote at the Kalona Community Building, 307 Sixth Street in Kalona.
Residents from the cities of Wellman and West Chester, or the townships of Lime Creek, Cedar, Dutch Creek, Franklin and 76 can vote at the Parkside Activities Center, 525 13th Street in Wellman.
In Johnson County’s Sharon and Washington townships, voters within the Mid-Prairie Community School District can cast their ballots at either the Mid-Prairie Home School Education Center (1592 Angle Rd. SW, Kalona) or Sharon Center United Methodist Church (2804 520th Street SW, Kalona)
For district residents in Iowa County, the polling place is Parnell City Hall, located at 600 Cleveland Street, Parnell.
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
