ALTON – The Alton School District announced plans to fund several high-priority projects and other district upgrades Tuesday night at their November Board of Education meeting.
The district will first target Health/Life Safety projects including roofs, parking lots and significant renovations to the Olin and Main Buildings at Alton Middle School (AMS). The AMS renovations will include asbestos abatement, restrooms, lighting, flooring, ceiling and HVAC upgrades. The AMS Auditorium will also receive a substantial facelift including flooring, seating and stage accessories.
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In addition to the Health/Life Safety improvements, the District will also invest in numerous other capital improvement projects. These projects include upgraded security systems, elevators in specific schools to increase accessibility, adding auxiliary gyms at AMS and Alton High School to relieve space limitations, playground upgrades, school marquee replacements, athletic field lighting and scoreboards.
Public School Stadium on State Street in Alton is also scheduled for upgrades and enhancements. In dire need of renovation, the aging athletic complex will undergo improvements including a turf football/soccer field, resurfaced track, new lighting, new scoreboard, improved ticket and concession areas and the addition of locker rooms.
According to Alton Superintendent Mark Cappel, many of the proposed projects have been longtime needs across multiple schools. “For nearly ten years, we have continued to discuss numerous and needed projects across the district. We really cannot afford to wait any longer on some of the important upgrades such as security, asbestos abatement, HVAC, elevators and other needed improvements.” Cappel added that other capital projects are necessary to provide Alton students with schools and facilities that are competitive with surrounding districts. “We want to provide students with modernized and well-maintained facilities. This is certainly also crucial to attracting new families to our district and community. The proposed capital projects will allow Alton to meet that challenge like so many other districts already have throughout our conference and the Metro East.”
The combined projects are estimated to total approximately $16 million and take place over the next three years. The Board of Education will utilize just over $5 million in Health/Life Safety bonds to complete a portion of work eligible under that funding source. On Tuesday night, the Board also approved a resolution to declare their intent to issue up to $11 million in working cash bonds. The working cash bonds will be utilized to fund the capital projects not eligible under Health/Life Safety.
The property tax impact for the total projects, beginning in the 2022 fiscal year, is estimated to be approximately $30 per year on a home with an average value of $100,000 (assuming flat growth in EAV). However, because the District’s bond and interest portion of the tax rate was already poised to steadily decrease over the next ten years, taxpayers will still see a lower tax rate for bond and interest payments beginning in the 2021 tax year as compared to the prior tax year. The Board elected to structure and spread the bond debt over a ten-year period to minimize the impact on taxpayers.
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