Hurley School District Seeks $400,000 In Bond Measure
No-Tax Increase Bond To Cover Roof Repair, Other Improvements
March 21, 2019
Isaac Estes-Jones
On municipal election day, April 2, voters living in the Hurley School District will consider Proposition 1: Tiger Upgrades, a $400,000 no-tax increase bond issue to help the school fund repairs.
Dr. Allison Murphy-Pope, superintendent of Hurley R-I School District, says the funds will allow the school to make desperately needed repairs, including to the roof and HVAC systems. “Earlier this week, our freezer gave out, again,” Pope said. “We were able to call Crane and put the food in their freezer until this one was fixed. We are lucky to be able to work together with the other districts in the area when things like this come up.”
Funds from the Tiger Upgrades measure will be ear-marked explicitly for roofing and other building repairs, HVAC unit replacements, and furnishing and equipping school facilities. “There are a number of maintenance items that we really have to do,” Pope said. “Whether this passes or not, the district will have to spend money. The bond measure just keeps that money from coming out of the operations side.”
“Our number one priority, if this passes, is to get the roof fixed. We have leaks in several places across the building, and that needs to be taken care of,” Pope said. The superintendent also detailed the need to reseal the brick on part of the building. “The sealant only has a certain effective lifetime, and we are at that point,” she said. “We have to reseal the brick, or water will start to come in through those walls.”
Those are the top two priorities for the $400,000 bond. Any remaining funds will be used to replace aging HVAC systems and to repair the parking lots. “There have been at least two occasions where we’ve had to tear up parts of our parking lots to repair water line issues,” Pope said. Hurley was forced to release students early on Monday, February 25, after the water main coming into the building broke.
The school also hopes to improve building security with the funds, if possible. “We need to replace a couple of exterior side doors,” Pope said. “They are not quite as secure as we would like. Not unsafe, but we want to improve them if we can.”
The bond measure is akin to refinancing a home to get the equity for repairs, according to Dr. Pope. “You can think of it as restructuring the debt. We are able to extend the payments we are already making to get the funds to improve the school, just like a homeowner can refinance to get the equity out to repair a roof or porch,” she said.
The school is planning a bond information meeting on Friday, March 22, at 6 p.m. Anyone with questions can ask them at that event. “I’ll also be around and at games this week if anyone can’t make it to the meeting and wants to ask a question,” Pope said.
If this measure is passed, the tax levy will remain unchanged at $0.6666 per $100 of assessed property. “Voting no won’t make taxes go down,” said Pope, “We’ve been at that tax rate for the last several years, and I don’t foresee it changing anytime soon.” If this measure does not pass, the school will be forced to make these repairs out of the operating budget, taking money that is usually used for classroom supplies and other necessities and applying it to the repairs.
For clarification, last year property owners across Stone County saw their taxes go up by a small percentage. That change was because 2018 was an assessment evaluation year, not due to an increasing tax levy.
Isaac Estes-Jones
On municipal election day, April 2, voters living in the Hurley School District will consider Proposition 1: Tiger Upgrades, a $400,000 no-tax increase bond issue to help the school fund repairs.
Dr. Allison Murphy-Pope, superintendent of Hurley R-I School District, says the funds will allow the school to make desperately needed repairs, including to the roof and HVAC systems. “Earlier this week, our freezer gave out, again,” Pope said. “We were able to call Crane and put the food in their freezer until this one was fixed. We are lucky to be able to work together with the other districts in the area when things like this come up.”
Funds from the Tiger Upgrades measure will be ear-marked explicitly for roofing and other building repairs, HVAC unit replacements, and furnishing and equipping school facilities. “There are a number of maintenance items that we really have to do,” Pope said. “Whether this passes or not, the district will have to spend money. The bond measure just keeps that money from coming out of the operations side.”
“Our number one priority, if this passes, is to get the roof fixed. We have leaks in several places across the building, and that needs to be taken care of,” Pope said. The superintendent also detailed the need to reseal the brick on part of the building. “The sealant only has a certain effective lifetime, and we are at that point,” she said. “We have to reseal the brick, or water will start to come in through those walls.”
Those are the top two priorities for the $400,000 bond. Any remaining funds will be used to replace aging HVAC systems and to repair the parking lots. “There have been at least two occasions where we’ve had to tear up parts of our parking lots to repair water line issues,” Pope said. Hurley was forced to release students early on Monday, February 25, after the water main coming into the building broke.
The school also hopes to improve building security with the funds, if possible. “We need to replace a couple of exterior side doors,” Pope said. “They are not quite as secure as we would like. Not unsafe, but we want to improve them if we can.”
The bond measure is akin to refinancing a home to get the equity for repairs, according to Dr. Pope. “You can think of it as restructuring the debt. We are able to extend the payments we are already making to get the funds to improve the school, just like a homeowner can refinance to get the equity out to repair a roof or porch,” she said.
The school is planning a bond information meeting on Friday, March 22, at 6 p.m. Anyone with questions can ask them at that event. “I’ll also be around and at games this week if anyone can’t make it to the meeting and wants to ask a question,” Pope said.
If this measure is passed, the tax levy will remain unchanged at $0.6666 per $100 of assessed property. “Voting no won’t make taxes go down,” said Pope, “We’ve been at that tax rate for the last several years, and I don’t foresee it changing anytime soon.” If this measure does not pass, the school will be forced to make these repairs out of the operating budget, taking money that is usually used for classroom supplies and other necessities and applying it to the repairs.
For clarification, last year property owners across Stone County saw their taxes go up by a small percentage. That change was because 2018 was an assessment evaluation year, not due to an increasing tax levy.
