Absentee voting begins for Winfield-Mt. Union bond issue

WINFIELD - People entering the Winfield-Mt. Union (W-MU) schools building may notice the air in some areas is uncomfortable.

In some places it is too hot. In some places it is too cold. In other places it is hanging in the hallways. The radiators throughout the buildings regularly clunk. This is the reason the W-MU school board considers the installation of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to be a priority. At $3 million, it makes up the majority of the $4.75 million for the $6.4 million phase 1 of the project to renovate parts of the building. The remainder of the funding will be raised through sales tax revenue. In addition to the HVAC system, the project will create new space in the cafeteria, which currently acts as both a cafeteria and a hallway. It also will install a new membrane on the prekindergarten and kindergarten addition, and modify the space currently used for the industrial tech wing into a multipurpose area, moving the class to a new building the school owns.

'The HVAC project will move ahead either way,” W-MU superintendent Jeff Maeder said. 'If the bond doesn't pass, we will have to look at funding it with SAVE (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education) or PPEL (Physical Plant Equipment Levy) funds.”

Maeder also commented the school's boilers are many years past their expected life. While he didn't have a projected figure, he said the new HVAC system would be much more efficient and would provide savings to the district. He said the new system would eventually pay for itself.

Phase 2, which only includes increasing the size of the small gym in the building to regulation size, is contingent on the continuation of the sales tax law being extended.

If approved, taxpayers will see about a $2.70 per $1,000 of taxable valuation rate increase. Maeder stressed this is only the highest it can go, and may not increase that much. The bond would be for 20 years.

On Monday, March 4, absentee voting for the issue began. School officials are continuing to field questions from the public. Maeder said the school is also using social media to provide information on such things as tax impact and why the bond issue is needed. The election with the bond referendum will be held April 2. Polls will be open from noon to 8 p.m.

Maeder called the issue a 'generational bond,” promising the school district would not be returning to the public for more funding soon. He also said many of the school's goals for improvement will be met. He said the structure is in very good shape and the improvements would help keep it going for another 20 years. He believes maintenance expenses over the next 20 years can be covered by the district.

'i'm looking for a pretty good turnout this time,” Maeder said of the coming vote. 'I feel like we are working smarter and more efficiently to get the word out. I believe we have better informed people than we did last time.”

In 2017, the school had held a bond issue for $7.2 million with a $4.05 per $1,000 of taxable valuation rate. The issue received 52 percent of the vote, but not the 60 percent supermajority of votes it needed to be approved. That project had also included expanding the industrial tech department from its current location in the school, Maeder said the project would have added an additional 11,000 square feet to the building. He believes if the current project had been offered then, it would have been approved.

Maeder said the bond referendums were the result of a needs assessment of the facilities. A list of priorities was created from the study and the priorities were ranked by the community in 2016. The building was constructed in the 1920s.

'We are trying to be future focused and visionary,” Maeder said. 'I believe having a school set up to educate kids in a quality way is important to the community. There is a lot more choice where people send their kids to school. Just because you live in a community doesn't mean your kids will go there. If we don't continue to update where other schools are updating, we will fall behind.”