Holcomb School hosts $1M Bond issue meeting for area residents

During the meeting, citizens were shown slides of the various damages the school is looking to repair, such as the cracking roof in the slide above. Staff photo by George Anderson

HOLCOMB, Mo. -- Concerned citizens braved the incoming thunderstorm on Tuesday night in an effort to learn more about the Holcomb School District's proposed $1 million bond issue.

According to Superintendent Jeff Bullock, the district is seeking the bond to make repairs to the buildings on the campus.

Bullock said that funding has become a challenge to school districts across the state of Missouri. Because of the lack of funding, many capital projects and maintenance issues have been postponed.

"The Holcomb R-III District has reached the point where safety poses a major concern and issues must be addressed," Bullock explained.

The main topic of discussion raised by Holcomb citizens surrounded the school's expansion project a few years ago when the district has used its own funds to expand to meet the needs of the growing student body.

The question asked was why did the school not use some of those funds to make the repairs, instead of buying a piece of land that is not currently used.

"I think at that time, [the purchase] was because of future growth," Bullock said. "Instead of basically having to move the entire school at some point if the school continued to grow, the gentleman who owned that land at the time approached the school and said 'Hey, would you guys like to purchase this?'"

" Down the road, someday that ground will be used," Bullock said, adding that the district is currently unsure of an exact time table.

"One of the problems we ran into was three or four years ago was we were growing so fast we really didn't have any choice but to build on to what we have to house more students. We basically went from about 400 students to right at 600, which we're at now, in about a four year period."

Bullock added that he is happy for the growth, but it has thrown the district's long-term plan off track.

"That has been one of the issues and right now, we're in the situation we are in because, while all that growth was going on, the facilities we have were kind of ignored so that we could go ahead and add on.

"The first time we added on nine classrooms then we came back and added on eight more classrooms. Then we added on three more classrooms with our [science] labs three years ago. During that time, some of that money [used for the additions] could have been used to replace some of these roofs."

Bullock continued by saying the district understands that times are hard, but they feel like this is a situation that needs to be addressed before matters become worse.

During the meeting, citizens were shown slides of the various damages the school is looking to repair, along with an explanation of the full use of the bond.

Bullock said the district has broken down the repairs and upgrades into three priorities.

The first priority would be high school auditorium repair, brick replacement, and painting; high school gymnasium brick replacement, painting, roof removal and replacement including new flashing and detail solution; four classroom brick repair, elementary building roof removal, skylight demolition, and replacement; and cafeteria roof removal and replacement.

The second priority will be to complete heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) demolition in the first and second-grade buildings and replacement; complete restroom renovation; and new interior and exterior doors.

The third priority will be gymnasium lighting demolition and replacement in both the elementary and high school buildings and broken window replacement in all buildings.

"Making our buildings safe and secure for our students is the goal of the Holcomb School District," Bullock said. "The buildings in our district are older buildings that require upkeep and renovations. This district's goal is to maintain the buildings we have to avoid potential hazards in the future."

The bond is expected to increase the debt service property tax 27 cents per $100 assessed. The adjusted debt service levy would increase from 49 cents to 76 cents for every $100 of assessed value of real estate and personal properties.

The increase will be based upon current interest rates in the municipal bond market, conservative projections in the future growth of assessed valuation, and a 20-year repayment period.

The district's bond issue will be on the April ballot.