Officials: Building plan with same debt levels possible

More room at several schools, cooler classrooms, a replacement school and an expanded early-childhood education program are being dangled before West Aurora District 129 voters, as what will be done with $84.2 million the district wants to borrow.

And district officials say they will borrow the money without raising the amount of property taxes collected for debt payment.

“You're right. We are increasing debt,” Angie Smith, the district's assistant superintendent of operations, told a crowd at a North Aurora Mothers Club meeting last week. These projects are “worthy” of debt, she said.

Voters will decide the question April 7.

District taxpayers will pay about $14 million this year to pay back money the district owes. Debt payments are expected to stay in the $12 million to $14 million range through 2022, then drop to $2 million to $4 million a year for several years before ending in 2027, according to materials from the district. The owner of a house with a market value of $200,000 pays about $695 toward that debt now.

The new debt would be payable through 2038, the district estimates.

It hopes to borrow $25 million, interest-free, through the Illinois Qualified School Construction Bond program. In that program, the federal government pays the interest, she said. A spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Education said the state board is not taking applications yet, because the funding allocation is under review with the governor's management and budget office. If it goes ahead, the state board would have to vote on any requests from school districts.

If the district didn't get the QSCBs, interest costs are estimated at $53.5 million over a 20-year repayment schedule, assuming the debt is issued at an interest rate of about 4 percent, according to district spokesman Tony Martinez. If interest is 4.75 percent, the interest would cost $64.4 million.

Smith said the district would not borrow the money all at once.

First up would be installing geothermal heating and cooling systems at nine schools, starting this summer, with the systems being operational in the 2016-17 school year. It would also start planning the replacement of Hill Elementary School, with a goal of having it open in fall 2017, Smith said.

Projects on the district's list for referendum money:

• Installing geothermal heating and cooling systems at Freeman, Goodwin, Hall, McCleery, Nicholson and Schneider elementary schools; Jefferson and Washington middle schools; and at West Aurora High School. This would be in lieu of replacing the schools' boilers.

• Installing air conditioning at Todd Early Learning Center.

• Adding classrooms at Fearn Elementary School and Jefferson, Nicholson, McCleery and Freeman.

• Adding a field house, a multipurpose space and a corridor connection, and renovating locker rooms at West Aurora.

• Building a combination early-childhood/education center and administrative building.

• An entrance canopy over the student drop-off area at Hope Wall School.

• Building tornado safety zones in Herget Middle School and Greenman Elementary.

• Building a new Hill Elementary School, which is 127 years old.