School bond issue may be back on ballot in February

The school board will again decide if the new elementary school bond will be placed on the ballot for a special election in February.

The bond, which has been narrowly defeated the two times it has been up for vote, is intended to fund the construction of a new school to replace the three aging facilities that now house grades K-4. The oldest, North Elementary, was built in 1929.

Those in favor of the new school argue that Sidney elementary students need better, more centralized facilities, whereas those who are against the bond are concerned about higher property taxes.

Proponents of the bond worry that as time passes, the cost of construction will rise, which seems to have been the case since the bond was first voted on in 2013.

At the last election, the estimated cost of construction was $16.95 million. This cost has risen about $2 million to $18.8 million, according to Jay Ehler, Sidney’s superintendent of schools.

However, the increased cost also includes the addition of three extra classrooms that were not in the original plan and a larger commons area.

“Both the architect and the construction manager have worked on this, and they’re at $18.8 million for the building,” he said. “That is with a few added classrooms. As much as we’ve been growing in the last year, we’ve been taking a look at adding extra classrooms for kindergarten and first grade, and common areas as well.”

An election resolution must be passed by the school board at least 60 days prior to the date an item is intended to be placed on a ballot.

“In a perfect world, we could have just ran it during the general election, but because this was a few days short of six months from the primary election, we were unable to do so,” Ehler said.

Ehler informed the board that if they wanted to have another election in the spring, he needed to know now, in order to get the resolution written in time for approval at the next board meeting on Nov. 10.

If the board approves the resolution, the bond is likely to be placed on the ballot in February 2015.