Project estimates come in higher than anticipated

WINFIELD - Instead of choosing an option for school improvements to follow at Tuesday's special meeting, the Winfield-Mt. Union School Board spent two hours trying to determine which improvements to cut out of the project after estimates came in about $1.5 million higher than expected.

The board chose to table discussions on which of three options to pursue that would address environmental control in the schools and lack of space in several of the areas. Before making any decisions, the board members said they wanted BLDD architect Samuel Johnson to gather more information on cost estimates of individual aspects of the projects. Superintendent Jeff Maeder announced to the board that the budget estimates for three projects the district had shown the public for input recently had only just arrived before the meeting. The board learned instead of the $6.1 million they had anticipated, and had announced to the community as the amount of the projects, the ranges of the project were from $7.5 million to $7.9 million.

'We did not have a close of cost estimates when we went to the community for input as we would have liked,” Maeder said. 'It would have been nice to have more definitive estimates.”

The next regular school board meeting will be Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m., in the school's media center. Maeder does not know if discussion will continue on the bond issue during that meeting, because the requested information may not be available by that time.

Maeder does not believe a bond issue will be on the February 2019 ballot, saying he thinks the board would not make a decision in time to have the legal wording of the ballot issue created and signatures gathered to submit to the Henry County Auditor by the cutoff date of Dec. 21. The next ballot a bond issue could be on is being held in April 2019. The school had intended to bond for $4.3 million for the project. This would add $2.70 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to district property owners' taxes.

The board also examined the results of a series of informational meetings that had been held to gather public input on the proposed projects.

'These were design ideas we wanted to get feedback on,” Maeder said. 'Certainly cost would impact what we are able to do, and that was brought to bear tonight.

'The frustrating part is we have been up to this point once or twice before, then had to postpone it for different reasons.”

The meetings drew about 57 responders out of about 1,500 registered voters in the district. Maeder said the meetings were more about seeing if the public felt the district was emphasizing the right areas to focus on for improvements.

Johnson said the construction could not be done before the summer of 2020. Issues the district hopes to address with the project include expanding the gym and adding seating; adding an HVAC climate control system; adding a climate-controlled commons area to the pre-K and kindergarten area; and making renovations to the commons and the music areas.

Maeder also said the district was supposed to close on a building that would become the new industrial arts building for the district earlier that day. He said there had been a problem with the paperwork to close on the building and the purchase has been delayed. The building was being purchased at a cost of $45,000 and was expected to cost $350,000 to renovate.

A previous bond issue for school improvements was narrowly defeated. Maeder believes the new bond issue would be approved because the district is asking for less money than the previous issue, which would have increased property taxes by $4 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.