No Tax Rate Increase Referendum

NOTE: This was sent to me by the referendum committee I am running it untouched. My daughter is at the left, the Grant Womens Track and Field team, has finished 4th, 8th and 7th in State in the last 3 years (small brag now back to your regularly scheduled blog).

Grant Community High School is offering the community a unique opportunity on February 5, 2008. Through effective long range planning, the school district is able to offer the taxpayers $38.5 Million in bonding for needed facility expansion with no tax rate increase. This is the District’s response to managing the growth that will increase the school’s enrollment from its current 1,745 to a forecasted 2,300 by the year 2014. The facility’s current capacity is 1,750 students.

Grant has demonstrated sound fiscal management by balancing its budget every year since 1997. There is no request for an Education Fund increase, since that fund has a strong balance. The District completed their prior major construction projects on time and within budget. They rebated $2.9 Million to taxpayers after one of the projects. They saved taxpayers $3.2 Million by refinancing existing debt. Developer impact fees were used for the 2005 library & classroom addition. The effective use of independent demographic studies for forecasting enrollment growth has allowed the District to time the facility expansion needs with an alignment of bonds in 2008 that will not require a tax rate increase.

A support group called Grant Citizens Helping Students (GCHS) has been at the forefront of supporting this referendum effort. Referendum information may be found at www.gchs2008.org or by asking Paul Jakstas at pjakstas@aol.com or Kim Schnoor at homesale1@mindspring.com.