Mundelein High board settles on $10 million plan

Mundelein High School District 120 voters will decide in April whether officials should borrow $10 million for campus improvements.

The school board on Tuesday voted to put a proposal on the April 5 ballot that would raise cash for pool repairs, roofing improvements, safety-related projects and other efforts.

The proposal would not increase the district's current tax rate if approved, school leaders insist. Rather, it would extend current debt as a way to generate the $10 million.

“This referendum option will keep the taxes level for debt service and allow us an opportunity to continue to address critical facilities renovations needs,” Superintendent Jody Ware said in an e-mail Wednesday.

If voters reject the proposal, the school's tax rate would decrease by about 11 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation during the 2012-13 school year, Ware said. That amounts to a potential decrease of about $69 for the owner of a house valued at $200,000.

If approved, the loan would be repaid by 2017. At that point, the tax rate would drop by 13 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation over the next two years, Ware said — as long as a future board doesn't increase taxes.

The board's decision to put the plan on the ballot was not unanimous. The proposal was opposed by board Vice President Vicky Kennedy, who on Wednesday said three months isn't enough time for a volunteer referendum committee to form and effectively spread the word about the proposal.

“We don't have anyone to run (a committee),” she said. “We don't have a message.”

The board should have waited until 2012 to put a question on the ballot and used the time until then to talk about the school's needs and build support, she said.

In 2008, a community group formed to study the campus' facility needs recommended $82 million worth of improvements. In discussions last month, the board rejected asking voters for that kind of cash, saying residents wouldn't support the tax increase that would be needed.

That's particularly important now that the state legislature has voted to increase income taxes and business taxes, officials said.

“I'm hoping that people will understand that we're not trying to take more of their money, like the state is,” board member Karen Havlik said.

Kennedy said she doesn't believe the prospect of higher state income taxes will affect how District 120 residents will vote on the referendum.

“We're not asking (people) to increase our taxes right now,” Kennedy said. “I think we're going to be in good shape.”

District 120 leaders last put a financial plan before voters in November 2006. That proposal failed, as did four prior plans.

The community last approved a tax-rate increase in 1995.