Jefferson R-7 School District officials are considering placing a $6.7 million bond issue on the April ballot to fund improvements around the district.
“We haven’t actually voted yet,” said Karen Koenig, president of the district’s Board of Education. “We’ve developed this list of items, with input from our facilities committee and information from our CSIP data, and we want to put it out there and see what people think and then vote on it in December. We are trying to be as transparent as possible.”
The list of possible improvements includes several safety issues which have become hot-button topics in recent years.
“The biggest thing is the traffic safety issue,” Superintendent Clint Johnston said. “We are looking to get a traffic light at the intersection of Hwy. 61 and Dooling Hollow Road (which leads to the main campus south of Festus). We are also looking at two alternative routes into and out of the campus: one from the high school straight out onto Hwy. 61 and another that would go behind the middle school and the transportation office and out onto Hwy. 61 at the southern end of the school property, adjacent to the golf course.”
The preliminary cost estimate for those three projects is $3.6 million. The district has agreed to pay Access Engineering in St. Louis County $15,278 for a traffic study to gather information on the 2-mile stretch of Hwy. 61 from I-55 south to Weaver Road, which regularly gets congested with school traffic.
“They’ll be looking at traffic counts, patterns, looking at how different areas might be affected by adding access,” Johnston said. “We all know we have extreme congestion, but we want to make sure we have solid data to support the need for these changes. It’s one thing to say, ‘We’re backed up every morning down to the golf course and up to the (Good News Community) church,’ but another to have hard numbers, hard data to support that.”
Another project, which would cost an estimated $750,000, is the potential relocation of the district’s softball field from its current home at the R-7 Little League complex in Selma Village to the school campus.
The school owns the Little League property and pays the utilities and insurance on the complex, as well as any necessary repairs.
“We do that willingly because we all know how important those (Little League) fields are to our community,” Koenig said. “We understand the emotional attachment people have. But there are problems over there, and the school doesn’t have deep enough pockets to solve them all. We need people to understand the legal situation, that the school’s responsibility is to look at every option available to make sure the kids have a safe place to play.”
The possible bond issue could also include a $2.4 million list of smaller projects, including roof replacement and sewer improvements at Plattin Primary; an expansion to the cafeteria at Jefferson High School; HVAC system replacements at all four district buildings; a concession stand at the district football stadium; asphalt repair and replacement at Danby-Rush Tower Middle School; and door key updates at all buildings.
Johnston said an April bond issue would require a 4/7 majority for passage.
“We anticipate being able to do the bond issue without an increase in our tax levy,” he said. “We will be able to do this because we have been successful in restructuring our existing bonds, saving more than $4 million in interest since 2013. Those saved dollars give us the opportunity to consider this no-rate-increase bond issue to move these projects forward. It’s like homeowners making a home equity loan.”
The district’s current tax levy is $4.5967 per $100 assessed valuation. While the bond issue would not require a tax increase, it would extend the district’s bond debt, but Johnston said it was too early to know by how long.
He said the improvements are needed because the district is poised to see a great deal of growth in the next few years.
“With the I-55 expansion to three lanes, our growth models indicate the district will continue to expand, with additional homes, students, vehicles,” he said. “We have outgrown our current traffic infrastructure, and we have to look to the future. Now is a good time to consider it because interest rates are extremely low, and it would serve us well for 20-30 years down the line.”
Koenig agreed, saying the board welcomes input from district stakeholders.
“We hope the community will support this,” she said. “It’s an issue of safety, more than anything else. Traffic congestion is not going to go away; it’s going to get worse. And if this bond issue passes, we’d be able to start immediately getting these safety measures in place.”
The next board meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, in the Performing Arts Center on the Jefferson High School campus.
Bond issue projects
What a proposed $6,7 million bond issue for the Jefferson R-7 School District would pay for:
Alternate entrance behind Rush Tower
Middle School to Hwy. 61 $2,000,000
Alternate entrance to Jefferson
High School $1,000,000
Relocation of softball field $750,000
Stoplight at Dooling Hollow Road
and Hwy. 61 $600,000
Plattin Primary roof and
sewer replacement $500,000
High school cafeteria expansion $500,000
HVAC replacements $450,000
Asphalt work at middle school
playground/tennis court $350,000
Stadium concession stand $350,000
Key/door updates (all buildings) $250,000
Total $6,750,000