Ames Residents May Vote On $65 Million Bond For Elementary Schools

It appeared that the Ames Community Schools Facilities Petition committee gathered enough signatures to put a $65 million bond referendum to build and repair the district's elementary schools on the Sept. 13 ballot.

The committee turned in a majority of its petitions to school officials Thursday.

Ames School district officials will verify the signatures and formally submit them to the Ames Community School Board during its meeting Monday. The committee needed 595 signatures to place the measure on the ballot.

The referendum will ask voters if the school district would be allowed to issue $65 million in general obligation bonds to build three new elementary schools, repair two existing schools and reopen Roosevelt Elementary, shuttered in 2005.

The plan calls for new elementary schools on district property at 24^th Street and Miller Street, replacing and elementary schools. A third elementary school would be built at the current school site, replacing it as well. and elementary schools would be repaired.

A facilities condition report Gerry Peters,  Facilities Planning and Management director, presented in November provided the district with an evaluation of all district property.

Elementary schools buildings had a range of needs.

Asbestos had been found in all five current elementary schools and Roosevelt. Ground water leaked into most of the schools' lowest levels. According to the report, water has been as much as 4 feet deep in Meeker and water bubbled up through the ground in Fellows' tunnels. Water leaked into Roosevelt's boiler room as well, the report showed.

Mitchell and Sawyer elementary schools were the only elementary buildings without water issues, according to the report. The schools also lack sprinkler systems required by current codes. They would have to be added if the buildings were renovated.

Peters said he has been making repairs to the buildings where it makes the best sense.

In the case of asbestos removal he evaluates the buildings and considers the longevity of the building and also the long range plans of the district.

“It's certainly been a challenge for me to meet all my responsibilities. I want to be able to get the best value (for the school's dollar) and make smart decisions,” Peters said.

At Meeker he might order routine maintenance of the boiler system but at Mitchell he may consider buying a new boiler because he knows that building will be used longer, for example.

The $65 million bond project would help update the buildings and give teachers and students some extra room.

The district added a temporary classroom at Mitchell 15 years ago and portable classrooms were just installed at Meeker and Fellows elementary because of an unusually large kindergarten class.

Reopening Roosevelt Elementary would give the district six elementary schools. The school was built in 1923 and the district added on to the building in 1969. The district closed Roosevelt and Northwood Elementary in 2005 to save money, said Valerie Terando, Ames Community Schools director of school, community and media relations. Northwood was renovated and made into a preschool center, but Roosevelt was closed and the district stopped heating and cooling the building.

Karen Shimp, Ames Community School District's chief financial officer, handed petition committee members fliers that showed how the $65 million bond referendum would affect property taxes. According to the sheet, the district would levy about $1.56 more per $1,000 assessed valuation than it does now. That's because a .34 cent levy would expire and it assumes that the school board would use $1 million of the district's school infrastructure local option sales tax revenues for property tax relief.

At that rate, an owner of a home assessed at $100,000 would pay about $6 more a month in property taxes, according to a sheet prepared by Tim Oswald, managing director
of public finance investment banking at Piper Jaffray.

If no relief was given, the levy could be as high as $2.34 per $1,000 assessed valuation. The rate would be dependent on property values and how the bonds were sold. Ultimately the board will decide each year whether to use sales tax funds to reduce the levy rate. School Board member David Putz said at a recent meeting that current members cannot bind future boards.