District 214 will survey taxpayers this week in lead-up to possible referendum
Northwest Suburban High School District 214 officials this week will gauge taxpayers’ appetites for funding some $900 million worth of renovations across the district’s six aging schools.
A phone survey scheduled to begin Wednesday and an online poll set to go live Thursday are among the initial planning steps in what could be the Arlington Heights-based district’s first referendum in more than five decades.
District officials and their community engagement consultant EO Sullivan will first meet on Tuesday with a hand-picked 40-member community committee of parents, teachers, residents, business owners, elected officials and civic leaders.
The group held an initial meeting Sept. 3 about the state of the district’s facilities, but on Tuesday is expected to see more specifics. That will include a list of projects, their estimated costs and the impact to homeowners’ tax bills.
Officials will also ask committee members and survey takers to prioritize the projects: which should be done first, last, or not at all.
They may have some convincing to do, if a preliminary survey on the district website from early September is any indication.
Of the 227 people who took the survey, a little more than half said they wouldn’t support paying more for capital improvements.
“For me, this was alarming,” school board member Vicki Chung declared at a board meeting late last week.
Chung, of Mount Prospect, noted both tax-increase ballot measures for Mount Prospect Elementary District 57 and the Mount Prospect Park District earned voter support last year, but those same voters may not be willing to pay higher taxes in District 214.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people who supported both referendums, and who I will say, love District 214,” Chung said. “And they agree that our buildings are aging and are in need of some repair. And they feel, just financially maxed out.”
Collin Corbett, a strategist with EO Sullivan, said such responses are common in the early stage of the engagement process. But he noted more specifics about potential facility projects and funding mechanisms will be unveiled this week.
“It’s going to be a very transparent process here in phase two where the public’s going to be able to see the types of improvements that can be achieved and what those would cost and what kind of impact that would have on their tax bills as homeowners throughout the district,” Corbett said.
Superintendent Scott Rowe said someone on the community committee admitted coming to the first meeting “as a no,” but was open to learning more.
“We would be foolish not to fully recognize that everybody feels financially tight right now,” Rowe said. “And we don’t quite know what’s coming, if there’s a recession on the horizon or what is going to happen in the next six to nine months or a year. The process has to just play out and let our community tell us what they’re comfortable with.”
Should the school board decide to put a question on the ballot, Rowe suggested the district’s ask of taxpayers could be less than the maximum.
“Even if now may not be the time, the community knows these needs are here and they’re not going to go away until we address them somehow,” he said. “So let’s at least start talking about it to figure out if maybe it’s a smaller chunk than what we would ideally like, but we can begin the process. We have to do something with our buildings. They need it.”