Voters will decide on borrowing $28.5 mil for new Dist. 56 building
Gurnee Elementary District 56 voters will get to decide whether officials should be allowed to borrow about $28.5 million to construct a new school in Wadsworth.
District 56 board members Wednesday night voted 7-0 in favor of placing the borrowing question on the Nov. 2 ballot. District 56 would depart flood-prone Gurnee Grade School if the new structure is built. Superintendent John Hutton said time is of the essence if the new Wadsworth school is to be built. He said the poor economy will allow District 56 to obtain low interest rates and more competitive bidding that'll result in reduced construction costs.
"I just think now is the time to act," District 56 board President Heidi May said. Figures worked up for District 56 show the bond-and-interest tax rate for property owners would mostly hold steady if voters approved the $28.5 million budgeted for the Wadsworth school. Officials say that's because about $15 million in debt would be repaid by 2014, with only the new loan to cover. An owner of a $300,000 market value home this year will pay about $495 toward the district's bond-and-interest fund. That would decrease to $420 in the 2010 tax year and reach $462 in 2015 if the ballot measure is approved.
If the referendum question is rejected, the $300,000 homeowner would pay $525 to the bond-and-interest fund in 2010. However, the payment would decline to about $207 in 2015.
Under the plan, District 56 would leave Gurnee Grade near the Des Plaines River in the village.
The building serves children in children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Replacing Gurnee Grade would be a structure for grades three through five on a 75-acre site the district owns in Wadsworth. The school would accommodate 600 students north of Wadsworth and Delany roads for the budgeted $28.5 million. O'Plaine Elementary School adjacent to Gurnee village hall would be reconfigured to serve kindergarten through eighth grade if the new building is constructed. Referendum money would go toward the O'Plaine work as well. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have confirmed Gurnee Grade is the most flood-prone structure in Illinois, Hutton said at Wednesday's meeting. He said Des Plaines River flooding has become more volatile.
"Our kids deserve a better location than this," Hutton said. Hutton said it's anticipated two federal grants totaling $2.7 million will be approved for the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission to demolish Gurnee Grade and other structures on Kilbourne Road, then restore the property to wetlands.
District 56 includes Gurnee, Wadsworth, Beach Park and Waukegan. District enrollment was pegged at 2,234 for the last academic year.