District 15 board to vote on bond issue next week
The question over whether Palatine Township Elementary District 15 will ask voters to approve a controversial $27 million bond sale remains up in the air.
The school board still has the opportunity to pull the referendum question - the result of a petition drive to stop the loan - from November's ballot when it discusses and votes on the matter Aug. 18.
District 15 Assistant Superintendent Jim Garwood said there was a brief panic last month when staff saw the Aug. 16 deadline for governing bodies to adopt a resolution or ordinance that puts a referendum on the ballot.
"We thought we might have to call a special meeting," he said, noting the board would have normally met Aug. 11 but pushed the meeting back a week.
However, after consulting bond counsel Dan Johnson, the district learned it actually has until Sept. 1 to certify the referendum question to the Cook County Clerk's office.
Clerk spokeswoman Courtney Greve confirmed Monday's deadline is only for a governing body to pass a resolution or ordinance.
District 15 did that in March, when it agreed to issue $27 million in working cash bonds, $17 million to pay for capital projects at the schools and $10 million to replenish the district's working cash fund.
There was an immediate community backlash after the bond issue was narrowly approved. Critics collected 7,500 signatures on petitions to force the bond sale to referendum, 6,600 of which were deemed valid - still well over what they needed.
The crux of the objection was with the $10 million for the working cash fund, which acts as an internal savings account, different from cash reserves.
Opponents say the district would use the working cash for day-to-day expenses, and that about $5.2 million would be lost through the refunding of outstanding bonds, a necessary step in the bond issue.
The board meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18 at Sundling Junior High, 1100 N. Smith St., Palatine.
Bond issue timelineMarch 10: District 15 board approves resolution 4-3 to issue $27 million in working cash fund bonds.April 12: Petition organizers turn in 7,508 signatures from residents opposed to bond issue; forces it to referendum.bull; At this point, the bond issue is automatically on the Nov. 2 ballot - it can only be removed if the school board takes action to pull it down.April 19: Two residents file objection to petition; claim 1,800 questionable signatures.June 1: Objection dropped, petition found valid.Aug. 18: District 15 board expected to decide to leave referendum on ballot - or take it off and abandon bond sale for time being.Sept. 1: Deadline for District 15 board secretary to certify referendum question with Cook County Clerk's office.