Dist. 25 board president cool to school air conditioning plan

Dan Petro finds himself in a curious position.

He's the president of the Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 school board. In December, the board approved a $12.6 million project to air condition nine schools.

But Petro voted against the project because he didn't like the way it was funded. Instead of extending a loan to pay for some of the project, Petro wanted to only use money from the district's reserve account, which is more than $43 million.

Despite Petro's objection, the plan was approved. District 25 will fund the project with a combination of a loan and cash reserves. It will have the owner of a $500,000 home paying an additional $671 in taxes over several years.

The school board's next step is Thursday when it officially declares its intent to extend the life of $6 million worth of bonds.

That's the part Petro has a problem with and he's not going to vote in favor of it.

But he's not going to campaign against it, either.

"The majority of the board has decided this is the direction they want to go," Petro said.

While the District 25 school board isn't likely to change the plan, the public could.

Voters could take away the board's power and put the issue to a public vote. If a resident or group of residents gets 10 percent of District 25's 31,050 registered voters to sign a petition, then the issue would be on the November ballot, said District 25 Assistant Superintendent of Business Stacey Mallek.

Resident have from Thursday until March 31 to gather 3,105 signatures, Mallek said.

So far, neither Mallek nor Petro have heard of anyone starting such a petition.

Back in December, Petro and fellow board member Ken Nielsen didn't agree with stretching a tax-rate increase a few more years when the board promised taxpayers the rate would drop in 2009.

In April 2005, District 25 voters approved a tax-rate increase that gave the district an additional $5.5 million a year, which was used to refinance old debt and build additions to two elementary schools.

Homeowners agreed to pay 19 cents more per $100 of equalized assessed valuation through 2009, when the retirement of old debt will cause the tax rate to decrease by 21 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value. This will be a reduction in taxes of about $450 on a $500,000 home.

Without the air-conditioning project, the rate would fall another 22 cents in 2011. However, because of the air-conditioning project, taxpayers won't see that second 22-cent tax rate drop until 2014.

The project will air condition South, Thomas, Greenbrier and Olive-Mary Stitt this summer. Work on Dryden, Ivy Hill, Patton, Westgate and Windsor will take place in summer 2009.

The District 25 school board will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at Dryden Elementary School, 722 S. Dryden Place in Arlington Heights.