Renovate Grant High or pay less taxes

Grant Community High School officials will ask residents to approve a $38.5 million building plan that, officials said, will not increase taxes.

But taxes would drop by about $150 annually if the plan is not approved by voters by referendum in the 2008 primary election on Feb. 5, officials at the Fox Lake high school said.

Christie Sefcik, associate superintendent of Grant Community High School District 124 in Fox Lake, said the district is looking to make renovations to the high school, at Route 59 and Grand Avenue.

If the plan is approved, the district would add about 21 classrooms, new science labs, art studios, and family and consumer science labs, as well as an activity center and field house.

Sefcik said the field house is needed because the current gymnasiums are too small to handle an anticipated 1,000-student increase over the next decade.

"We need more gym stations," she said. "We will have about 2,300 kids that will need to take gym, so having a larger field house like this is needed."

She added the facility would be open to communities for events, and would be used to house competitions that do not fit in the current gymnasiums.

The construction would happen in two phases over two years.

Because old building bonds will be paid off at the end of 2007, the district could take out a new loan for the expansion without taxpayers seeing any change in their bills.

If residents approve the plan, the rate would remain at $2.053 per $100 equalized assessed value of a home. If the plan isn't approved in February, the tax rate would drop to about $1.85 per $100 equalized assessed valuation.

"We did this purposefully through careful planning by the district," Sefcik said. "We saw a need to expand several years ago, and restructured our debt to ensure we could expand without adding taxes to residents."

If approved, this would be the third expansion at Grant since 2000, when Grant expanded to hold 1,650 students. The district then added classrooms and a new library in 2005. The 2005 expansion was paid for through impact fees.

Grant High School building expansion plan

How much: Officials are asking the public to approve a $38.5 million referendum on the Feb. 5 ballot.

What will it buy: It will pay for 111,400 square feet of additional space, including 21 classrooms, new science labs, art studios, family and consumer science labs, and an activity center/field house.

Two phases of construction: Phase 1 would include the construction of 10 classrooms, six science rooms and a learning resource center. Phase 2 would include replacing part of the current building with a two-story structure housing 11 new classrooms and art studios.

Students: The new facility would be able to accommodate 2,300 students. The current facility can house 1,750. Current enrollment is 1,745.

Source: Grant High School District 124