BROKEN BOW- Broken Bow Public Schools revealed plans for a proposed $26.5 million bond issue in the board room at the school on Thursday. The announcement comes on the heels of a failed $29.9 million bond issue in 2021 that saw a 38.8% voter turnout vote 503 “for” and 848 “against”.
BBPS Superintendent Darren Tobey began the conference by stating that the project centers around four pillars.
Included in those four pillars are safety upgrades that feature a single main entrance with all students under one roof. Ag, auto, metals, and woods facilities would be addressed with the bond with a new facility that offers state-of-the-art classrooms and spacious workshops for hands-on education. The bond would also result in the transformation of the current middle school gym into a fine arts center with an updated auditorium and fine arts classrooms. Lastly, renovations would include updating science and business classrooms with labs, the addition of a hallway to connect buildings, a new roof on the high school building, a new HVAC system in the AB building, and renovations to the high school gym.
Tobey went on to say that through the process the board looked at several different options after the last bond failed. First, costs to construct a new middle and high school would total around $63 million. Second, the consideration of trying to pass the same bond again, found that option to already cost $46 million compared to the $29.9 million price tag in 2021. A scaled down version of new construction was considered at $36 million as well, before the board decided to move forward with today’s revealed $26.5 million bond issue. All considerations included the knowledge that $5 million will be necessary for an HVAC system and high school roof whether voters pass the bond or not.
The biggest question that is likely to swirl in the days leading up to the mail-in election: What are the differences between the last bond and this one? Tobey explained that this bond saves money by putting a stronger emphasis on renovation rather than new construction.
“The total project will consist of 39,000 square feet of new construction and 79,000 square feet of renovation work. The ag, auto, metal, and woods facility makes up about 65% of the new construction in this bond.”
Tobey expanded on the specifics of renovations versus new construction between the two different bonds, “The previous project was a new gym and a new fine arts center. Both those things in this project will be renovations. Basically taking the auditorium we are in now and renovating that into a fine arts space, because the previous bond had a standalone auditorium. Same with our high school gym. Some renovations will take place to open it up a little bit so we can practice east/west instead of just north/south.”
Tom Osmond and Tim Chancellor from the Broken Bow school board were on hand for the unveiling. They both agreed that the process with the previous bond sent them a message.
“I think the last bond we ran was a good message to us to come back and condense things down to our needs; and that’s what this bond is. This is a platform. The bond to the taxpayers and the community of the needs of the school going forward,” said Chancellor.
The second biggest question, if not the biggest, will be what changes to the district’s property tax ask will look like.
“We were on the positive side of getting some more financial aid. Our state aid numbers have went from $100,000 to $1.3 million. We’re going to get about double the money that we had with special education receipts. So that only helps the project, helps our case here. It’s not going to cost the taxpayers a bunch of additional money due to those legislative changes. From the 22-23 budget, if we were to pass this today and have to tax people we’re looking at $250,000 total that we’d ask for over what we asked for on the 22-23 year. So very minimal taxpayer dollars to make this happen and again part of that is our North Park bond that we passed back in 2011, we’ve paid off early,” said Tobey.
The bond Tobey spoke of at North Park Elementary totaled $5.6 million.
Several community meetings and tours are scheduled leading up to the mail-in election, starting with a tour this Monday at 11:00 am and ending with an open house Q&A and tour on November 5.
The mail-in election will begin with ballots being mailed to registered voters the week of October 23. Completed ballots can be returned by mail, drop box, or in-person delivery to the Custer County Election Commissioner before Tuesday November 14 at 5:00 pm. To register to vote, the online registration deadline is October 27 and the in person registration deadline is November 3.
It was stated that should the bond pass, completion of the work would take about 18 months time with construction starting around March or April of 2024.
Contact information for questions, comments, and concerns as well as the schedule of community tours and meetings can be found at BuildBowTogether.com.
