By 11-vote margin, Glen Ellyn District 41 borrowing request appears to pass

Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 voters appear to narrowly support a $24.2 million borrowing request that would pay for a classroom addition at Hadley Junior High and building repairs at four elementary schools.

Unofficial tallies in all 37 precincts show 2,663 votes in favor of the measure Tuesday, with 2,652 votes cast against the proposal.

Principal and interest payments on the loan would cost the district a total of $40.87 million over 20 years. The district plans to pay off the loan in tax year 2036.

If voters had rejected the measure, the district's share of the property tax bill for the owner of a $373,200 home - the average in Glen Ellyn - would have decreased by $248 because of the retirement of existing debt.

Instead, the tax bill for that homeowner is slated to drop by about $106 with voter approval of the plan that faced stiff resistance from an opposition group that included village trustees.

The district would earmark about $9.2 million of the funding for the two-story, 10-classroom addition at Hadley. The addition would replace the school's 10 portable classroom units - the last still in use in the district.

A project financed by about $7 million of the district's reserves and another $7 million in debt built brick-and-mortar additions and removed portables at the four elementary schools.

In use for more than a decade, the Hadley portables raise security concerns as students move to and from the main building, district officials say.

The new loan also would pay for the costs of shifting a bus lane off Glencoe Street and onto Hadley's property to help alleviate traffic around the neighborhood school.

The district also plans infrastructure repairs and bathroom renovations to improve accessibility for students at all of its five schools. At Churchill Elementary, the district would reconfigure the front entrance to send visitors directly to the main office.