Forum Tuesday on Batavia school referendum

The Batavia school district is having a forum Tuesday night on plans to borrow $15 million for buildings-and-grounds projects, in advance of an advisory referendum on the matter.

The money would be used, in part, for field work at Batavia High School, including putting in two artificial-turf fields.

The forum is at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at Batavia High School, 1200 Main St.

Administrators will discuss the ballot question, capital projects, and the site plan for the athletic fields projects. There will be a time to ask questions. The district requests that questions be submitted in advance, via a form on its website, "to make the best use of the Q&A time," according to the notice for the meeting. The form can be found at bps101.net/feedback.

The referendum is Nov. 4, with early voting starting Oct. 20. It asks whether the district should borrow $15 million, by selling alternate-revenue general-obligation bonds. The bonds would be repaid over 20 years, with an estimated interest cost of $9 million. They would be paid out of the operating funds, unless the district didn't have enough money to do so. Then they would be paid for out of debt-service property tax levy, which is not subject to a limit.