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New high school for Crestwood on ballot Voters asked to OK 2.66-mill bond issue

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Colin McEwen
October 28, 2009

 

By Colin McEwen

Record-Courier staff writer

The Crestwood School District was approved last year by the Ohio School Facilities Commission to build a new $25.7 million high school, with the state shouldering half of the costs.

Issue 40, a 2.66-mill bond issue, will be presented to voters Tuesday. If the issue is approved, owners of a $100,000 home could expect to pay an additional $7 per month in property taxes.

The issue would raise nearly $13 million for a new school, with the state paying the other $13 million for the project.

Rotting electrical equipment, roofs and ceilings that constantly leak water and gaps between floors and exterior walls — with enough space to drop objects into rooms below — are just a few of the issues plaguing the school, built in 1955.

“We know a building can hold students and keep them dry,” said high school Principal Arden Sommers. “But is this building conducive to educating our students?”

Sommers said if the district does not pass the levy, it would need to pay $2 million alone to abate existing asbestos, hidden beneath the walls. Overall repairs — including roofs, windows and other infrastructure — would cost about $8 million. And a complete renovation of the existing school would cost about $23.1 million — 84 percent of the cost of a new school.

“The idea is that this would be built for the long term,” Sommers said. “This whole school was kind of glued together — sometimes as an afterthought.”

Officials say low-interest rates and the current low cost of construction are both favorable to building a new school now. 

If the measure fails, officials said millions of the matching dollars from the state would disappear and the district would lose the opportunity for federal stimulus money.

 




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