Home

General Information

About Us


CVC Audit Information Download


Contact Us


Display Advertising


Ad Sizes and Samples


Classified Advertising

Communities

Communities Served


Community Resources

-$- Online Store -$-

Digital Online Subscription


Order A Classified Ad Online


Place Assumed Name Notice


Cook County Legals Printed Here


Kane County Name Change - $85


Place Obituary Notice


Download Sample Paper

Submission of News

Engagement Submittal


Birth Announcements


News & Photos


Sports Scores

Lifestyle Features and Videos

Food and Lifestyle


Lifestyle Videos


Seasonal Widget


Crossword and Sudoku Puzzles


Mug Shot Mania News

Online News and Commentary

The Examiner U-46 News Feed


Cheap Seats 2024 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2023 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2022 By Rich Trzupek


Guest Seat By Harold Pease, Ph.D.


Cheap Seats 2021 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2020


Cheap Seats 2019


Cheap Seats 2018


Cheap Seats 2017


Cheap Seats 2016


Cheap Seats 2015 B


Cheap Seats 2015


Cheap Seats 2014


Cheap Seats 2013


Cheap Seats 2012


Cheap Seats 2011


Cheap Seats 2010


Ramey DUI Video


Representative Randy Ramey pleads guilty to DUI


Bartlett Volunteer Fire Department Street Dance


The Truth about Global Warming


Examiner Editorials and Cheap Seats from the past

Forms and Newsstand Locations

Newsstand Locations


Carriers needed


Legal Newspaper

The Examiner U-46 News Feed

U-46 Board prepares for budget-related vote


By Seth Hancock
  Several votes will occur by the Board of Education in School District U-46 at its Monday, Jan. 11 meeting, including a proposal to add $50 million in new debt just under a year after the district added $40 million in working cash bond debt during a restructuring despite wide public disapproval.
  The $50 million, the maximum allowed to be asked for, would come from Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) which U-46 CEO Tony Sanders called leftover money held by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) from the 2009 federal stimulus package American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The proposal was presented on Monday, Dec. 14.
  Sanders said in December the district learned about the QSCB applications and Jeff King, chief Operations officer, said the district had 10 days notice to draw up an application which are due Friday, Jan. 15. King said the bonds are low to zero interest with the federal government giving a rebate.
  “What it is, is that the federal government sets a rebate amount at the date of the sale of the bond,” King said. “It’s going to vary from anywhere between 4 and 6 percent a year.”
  That expected rebate would mean zero interest through year 20 of a 25-year pay back, and U-46 would pay 0.25 percent interest the next year, 0.3 the next and minimal increases yearly through the final years according to models King looked at. King said short-term the models are predictable.
  In communicating the sales pitch from the district, King said to “help move some of those projects forward sooner” in regards to basic maintenance and repairs. He said there were over 71 pieces, estimated at a $25 to $30 million investment needed, of equipment at schools that have met or exceeded their lifespan like boilers, cooling towers, vents and air towers.
  Chris Allen, director of Plant Operations, was there to present a “show-and-tell” showing holes in the membranes of some building roofs, clogged pipes and a dated electronic system for elevators.
  “Our best estimate at this point is if we can address those systems that we deem, by the manufacturer’s standards, are basically at or beyond their lifespan we could save $1.5 to $2.5 million a year in repairs and maintenance, emergency calls, emergency repairs,” King said.
  King said one of the projects would be the cooling tower at South Elgin High School which later board member Sue Kerr expressed shock with since that school is one of the newest. She asked about warranties which King said one to two years is the usual warranty.
  King called the district’s half a billion dollar budget “a finite amount of resources. We try to do the best that we can to allocate those resources to the greatest need.”
  The bonds would be put into the operating budget which King said would be “an option to structure it so it doesn’t increase the taxes on the taxpayer,” and he estimated $2 million a year to pay down the added debt.
  Sanders said that some board members asked about repaying the other debt which King said “it’s specifically disallowed within these rules.”
  Board member Jeanette Ward replied: “Well, not one for one, but why couldn’t you use it for some things and then next year retire $50 million or something?”
  King said that “you can’t use any part of this to pay off previous debt” and “it has to be specifically spent at a school facility.” He said the district asked about that and it’s in the guidelines but didn’t provide the entire list of regulations “because the guidelines are pretty long.”
  Kerr, noting about $33 million remaining on the recent working cash bond, asked: “Could we use that to pay off some of the debt?”
  King said: “Well, I suppose you could but you’re going to pay the full interest cost on the debt… You’re not saving any interest by paying it early.”
  With what appeared to be an attitude from the administration that this was free money, including Sanders saying this was “just the application going to the state board saying we want in on this,” Ward pointed out that taxpayers will still be footing the bill.
  “I just want to remind the public that the federal government is also funded with taxes, and those are our taxes,” Ward said. “So they’re not local property taxes but they’re still taxes that we’ve paid.”
  Ward also asked: “You would have done these projects anyway, it’s just this would allow you to do them at an accelerated rate?”
  King said it would not only accelerate the rate for basic needs but also “expand the number of projects that we could start looking at.” As the district claims the need to add debt is for basic maintenance, it is still planning to expand including full-day kindergarten.
  U-46 would have 18 months to issue the bonds if approved and three years to spend said King who added the ISBE “could come back and say we’re not giving you any.” The board could also deny the issuance of the bonds even if it approved the application.
  Sanders said: “I know that there have been concerns raised by many board members about the outstanding debt, and that’s why we did the restructure awhile back.”
  According to the district’s Debt Extension Limitation, it is legally allowed to take on $246.7 million more in debt, and Sanders claimed that as a positive on U-46’s management because downstate schools are “bonded out to the hilt” according to newspapers from that region.
  “I think it actually speaks well for U-46 that we are carrying a manageable load of debt moving forward,” Sanders said.
  Board member Cody Holt asked what the district’s “current outstanding bond debt is with the interest?” King said about $560 million, and it’s at $565.9 million according to U-46’s recent audit report.
  When the debt restructuring occurred, including the $40 million in working cash bonds for the same basic needs, as members of the public then both Holt and Ward were critical of adding debt for basic maintenance, something they felt should be budgeted for.
  Kerr asked if the district asked for less, could the entire repayment be done with no interest.
  King said: “Potentially. I don’t want to say 100 percent would be covered because they cautioned us ‘don’t say 100 percent, say 92 or 93 percent.’ So, potentially I would have to look at some more modeling around it, but that might be a possibility.”
  Donna Smith, the board’s president, asked if “that equipment or that repair, whatever it may be, last the lifetime of (the bond)?” King said the planned equipment replacement or repairs have life spans between 20 and 35 years.
  The board will also vote on a proposed $35,870 expenditure to Storcom paid out the education fund for about 20 terabytes of hard drive storage. Contracts with ACT and SAT for respective amounts of $43,800 and $95,200, both to be paid out of the education fund, were also presented.
  Terri Lozier, assistant superintendent, said that SAT was recently approved as the new college entrance exam by the state but the “majority of our students have prepped for and know the ACT test, and we wouldn’t want to put them at a disadvantage.”
  Lozier said free and reduced lunch students already have the cost of the exam waived and this is a waiver for the rest of the students. The contracts would not include the writing portion, which is an added cost, “but the number of colleges that actually require it are limited.”

.

.




©2024 Examiner Publications, Inc.

Website Powered by Web Construction Set