April 27th Issue 11 UPDATES
1. If the district decides to abate/demo the three elementary school buildings due to passage of the bond issue, will the district be responsible to pay the entire cost of the approximately $2 million?
NO. As part of the OFCC project, funds to pay the abate/demo costs are part of the project. Therefore, the state would pay 48% of those costs- ~ $1 million dollars. In addition, if any of the buildings are sold, the district would recoup 52% of the abate/demo funds allocated for each building.
Attached are three informational documents regarding asbestos in the district and an estimate to abate Lexington Elementary from Bill Racine of Environmental Support Network, Inc.
2. Attached are two informational documents regarding school district tax levies.
3. The following information was collected in response to questions about repair costs by building.
4. The following information addresses various questions received in regards to the NEXUS pipeline:
The School District has received many questions regarding the potential Nexus Pipeline going through Stark County. To answer an immediate question, the pipeline is NOT currently going through property of the School District, thus the School District has not received a contract to sign nor has the School District received any funds.
At the time of this writing, the Nexus Pipeline is not approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). If and when it is approved, and is assigned a value by the State subject to taxation at the County level, the School District, as well as Marlboro and Washington Township government entities will receive tax revenues from property taxes placed on this pipeline.
Projections of future tax revenues based on the taxing rates at that time, were produced by a professional finance firm, Public Finance Resources (PBR) in June of 2016. These projections are based on the Nexus pipeline being approved and in production by November of 2017. The tax revenue projections for the School District for the first 5 years are $3.1M, $3.0M, 2.9M, $2.8M, and $2.7M, for a total of $14.5M. Again, these projections are based on an approved and producing pipeline that has an estimated value of ~$87M. If the pipeline is not approved, or not valued at this level, these projections would change. The earliest the School District would receive any tax revenues if the pipeline was completed by November 2017 is 2020. Since it is not approved and thus not on schedule, tax revenues may be delayed if received at all.
The impact of receiving tax revenues from a pipeline are at least two fold:
First - Bond Issue #11 would generate more tax revenues from the Nexus Pipeline asset if the Bond issue is approved. Any tax revenues received from the pipeline due to the passage of Bond Issue #11 would reduce the taxes needed to be collected from the taxpayers as the debt for Bond Issue #11 is constant. Also, the Board would have the option to pay down bond debt associated with the new elementary buildings or use any other tax revenues from the Nexus Pipeline for operations and /or renovations/repairs of the Middle School and High School buildings.
Second - funding from the state to school districts is a formula based on the wealth of the district. Basically, when Local revenues increase primarily from increased tax revenues, the revenues the school district receives from the State may decline; in essence making the tax revenues from the nexus pipeline for operations a replacement' revenue stream not an 'additional' revenue stream. The timing and amount of this impact will become clearer as the Governers Biennium Budget unfolds and the resolution of the pipeline is known. The school district is cautious about the entire impact of this potential pipeline on the school finances.
Any questions regarding the Nexus Pipeline can be directed to the Administration office 330-823-7458.
Know the Facts:
- Plan: To build a consolidated elementary school building on the Moulin Avenue campus
- Bond Millage: 3.0 mill property tax bond issue
- Length of Bond Issue: 20 years
- Total Construction Cost: $29 million
- State share: $14 million (48%)
- Local share: $15 million (52%)
- During the length of the bond (20 years), interest on the local share is approximately $6 million.
- Cost to owner of a $100,000 property: Approximately $10 per month