The Lowndes County School District board of trustees announced it will hold an additional special session to determine the content, dollar amount and date of a pending bond issue at Friday’s board meeting.
The board will meet Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the district’s central office to debate the details of a bond issue. Potential values for the bond are $39.9 million, $43.9 million and $47.4 million.
Debate arose again on Friday on the details of the bond issue, which currently calls for $25 million for a new New Hope High School, $11 million for a centralized career-tech center, $2 million for a new athletic field house in Caledonia and around $1 million in upgrades for the West Lowndes campus. The details of what goes inside the bond continue to be debated by the board.
A $47.4 million bond failed in August; it earned 52 percent of the vote, but failed to achieve the 60 percent needed to pass.
This time around, district revenue projections indicate the bond will not require a tax increase.
Mill values are going to increase significantly following the roll-off of tax abatements to local companies this fiscal year, according to projections by Lowndes County tax assessor Greg Andrews. The district is expected to have an additional $6 million in its budget in the next three years, and an additional $6 million in the following three years.
“If these projections hold true, you should be able to pay these bonds without a tax increase,” board consultant Jim Young said at Friday’s meeting.
Superintendent Lynn Wright said they hope to decide the bonds’ date, value and content at Monday’s special session.
In other district news, the board unanimously authorized a digital learning initiative that will provide MacBook Air laptops for students in grades 5-12 and iPads for students grades kindergarten-4. The annual cost of the program is $1.4 million, which includes the devices, Apple Care insurance and technical support. The program will provide new MacBooks every four years and new iPads every three.
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