ADVANCE SCHOOL VOTERS WILL WEIGH TWO ISSUES

ADVANCE -- Voters in the Advance School District will be asked to approve a $350,000 bond issue and a 38-cent operating levy hike in an election April 7.

The bond issue would finance construction of additional classrooms for the elementary school, said Terry Pearcy, school district superintendent.

The operating levy hike would be used for improvements and repairs to school buildings, replacement of school buses, and the purchase of other equipment and supplies.

A four-sevenths majority is needed for passage of the bond issue, while the operating levy proposal would require a simple majority.

The Advance school board decided late last week to place the two issues on the election ballot. The decision culminates about seven months of study by the school board and a strategic planning committee.

"We hope the community will think in long-range terms," said Pearcy. "We want to have a good school district and this is vital for that effort."

Pearcy said the bond issue would be retired over seven years, while the operating levy hike would be permanent.

He said the bond issue would be retired with a debt service levy that would average 43 cents annually over the seven-year period. Currently, the school district's debt service levy stands at zero.

Combined, the two tax measures would mean an 81-cent hike in the current $1.62 tax rate, Pearcy said.

Still, he said, that's a small price to pay. A homeowner with a $50,000 home would pay $77 more a year in school taxes, or less than $7 more a month, he pointed out.

"Our tax rate has been lower than most area schools for a pretty long time," said Pearcy. "Even with this increase, we would be lower than several in our area."

The total levy hike would put the Advance School District tax rate in the mid-range of 16 area school districts, he said.

Pearcy said additional classrooms are needed at the elementary school to alleviate overcrowded conditions. The school, built in the mid-1950s, and three portable classrooms serve 275 elementary school students.

The bond issue would finance construction of a building to house five classrooms, including a school library. Pearcy said the addition would replace the portable classrooms, which are about 20 years old.

If any money is left over from the bond issue, Pearcy said, it could be used to help fund repairs and improvements to school district buildings.

School officials had looked at replacing the aging high school, built in 1924. But they elected not to do so after a recent inspection by a structural engineer indicated that the brick building is in better shape than originally thought.

Instead, school officials hope to make repairs at the high school, as well as other school buildings in the district. The improvements would include tuckpointing and roof repairs on a number of school buildings.

"We would be looking at an internal facelift at the high school," said Pearcy.

In recent years, voters have twice rejected a $1.4 million bond-issue proposal to construct a new high school. But Pearcy said the building, which would be 75 years old in 1999, will have to be replaced in the near future.

The superintendent explained that the April ballot issues are part of a long-range improvement plan.

"This is the first phase in a long-range building plan. At the end of the seven-year period that we have for the current proposed bond issue, plans are to assess the community again and look to building a new high school."

Pearcy said the 38-cent levy hike would allow the district to replace its aging buses.

"We have transportation needs that need to be addressed. We haven't purchased a new bus in over two years, and the current fleet is getting older and getting a great deal of wear and miles on it." As a result, maintenance costs have increased, he said.

The school district has seven buses and a van. Pearcy said that if the levy hike is approved, the district will be able to regularly replace its buses.

The levy hike, he said, is also needed just to help meet the school district's operating expenses.

"Our current expenditures have increased at a rate of 4.3 percent over the last seven years," said Pearcy.

The tax measures would address the district's highest priorities, he said. "We don't have any fat or anything frivolous in our proposal."

The fate of the ballot measures rest with the voters, Pearcy said. "Hopefully, they will understand what our needs are, but ultimately it is their decision."