The Haines Borough Assembly is deliberating whether to put to voters more than $4.7 million in bonds for school capital improvements.
Projects that may be included on the Oct. 7 ballot include high school roof replacement ($1.8 million), vocational education building mechanical upgrades ($1.7 million), high school air handling unit replacement ($412,000), high school locker room renovations ($783,000), and pool building repairs and upgrades ($975,000).
The Department of Education and Early Development approved state funding for 70 percent of the cost of the projects, except work on the pool building. The pool does not qualify for education department funding because it’s technically not part of the school, though it’s physically connected.
As outlined by the borough, voters would cast ballots separately for each of the 70-percent funded projects. Manager David Sosa is seeking assembly direction on whether pool repairs should be bundled in with the high school locker room repairs, as the rooms are adjacent to each other and share common plumbing.
“If the school bond passes for upgrades to the school locker rooms, the pool work should be done concurrently as any work completed on the school locker rooms is likely to be damaged by leakage from the pool locker room and associated mechanical equipment,” Sosa said.
Residents, though, might not be keen to fund 100 percent of the pool repairs (to repair the pool locker room and air-handling system and make disability-access improvements) and could nix the bundled proposition.
The assembly will discuss how to bundle the projects at the ordinance’s first public hearing Aug. 12.
Chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart put together a chart illustrating the mill rate increase that would accompany passage of bonds for the projects. Approval of the four, 70-percent funded projects would cost taxpayers .36 mills, or $36 in annual property taxes on a $100,000 home.
The pool repairs would represent an increase of .25 mills.
Assembly member Jerry Lapp voted against introducing the bond ordinance, saying the assembly needed to look at prioritizing projects before asking voters to fund school capital improvements.
“I think we’ve got some other things that are higher up on the list,” Lapp said.
Mayor Stephanie Scott expressed similar concern during an interview Tuesday. “I think the conversation we need to have around those school bonds is, is there something else we need to bond for that we’re not sufficiently prioritizing and this is going to knock those projects off the table?” she said.
Projects like the harbor expansion, Lutak Dock repairs, and wastewater treatment plant upgrades also lack funding or are underfunded, and taxpayers may rather pay for those improvements, Scott said.
Assembly member Joanne Waterman said it’s time for the borough to put the school projects on the ballot and let the people decide whether the work is a priority. “It’s time to do something or get off the pot,” Waterman said.
Waterman also said she wouldn’t have a problem putting other projects like the wastewater treatment plant upgrades on the ballot.
Chief fiscal officer Stuart illustrated how 100-percent borough funding of the wastewater treatment plant, Lutak Dock upgrades and harbor expansion would translate to mill rate increases.
The $11 million completion of the harbor would run the taxpayers an extra 2.81 mills, the $6 million in Lutak Dock repairs would mean an extra 1.53 mills, and the $3 million wastewater treatment plant upgrades would increase the mill rate by .77 mills.