Voters in the Suttons Bay school district will go to the polls Aug. 3 to decide the fate of a $1.73 million bond proposal.

The district Board of Education voted this spring to ask voters to support the sale of bonds to finance the acquisition and installation of technology throughout the K-12 complex, to replace doors and windows for improved energy efficiency and added security, and to purchase a new special education bus.

The bulk of the bond request, about $1.6 million, would go toward the purchase of technology.

“Our needs are significant to keep pace with technology,” board president Tom Nixon said. “The request would give us the backbone that kids need to be successful.”

Earlier this year, technology director Tim Smith gave a presentation to the school board on software that would allow students and teachers to access school work from remote locations

Smith said the school’s three computer labs are busy from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and sometimes after school as well. This spring he was in the process of setting up each student in grades 7-12 with their own email account through Google Docs, which provides word processing, spreadsheet and PowerPoint capabilities allowing students to go anywhere and access their schoolwork, thus eliminating the need for flash drives.

The bond revenue would give teachers up-to-date technology to integrate into the curriculum. At an estimated cost of $7,000 per classroom he said the school could provide a teacher with a laptop, wireless capabilities, a DVD player and speaker system in the ceiling. There are about 40 classrooms on campus.

The server and seven “wiring closets” have been in use by the district for 10 years. The typical lifespan for the equipment is three years.

Suttons Bay currently levies 3.9 mills to retire debts on previous construction projects. The debt is expected to be retired in about five years. By collecting 3.9 mills through the end of the bond, the district could pay for all the needed items, Superintendent Mike Murray said.
Typically, millages levied are rolled back as revenue increases.

Based on the advice of bond counsel, Murray said he believes the improvements could be funded without an increase in millage. He based his optimism on an anticipated resurgence in property values in 2011 and 2012.

In 2005, property values increased 8.91 percent and jumped even further in 2006 by 9.99. Murray said that property values increased to a lesser extent in 2008 and 2009 at 5 and 3.83 percent, respectively. However, values have remained flat this year.

The estimated millage levied for the proposed bonds next year is .20 mills. The maximum number of years the bonds may be outstanding, and exclusive of any refunding, is six years.

“If the school district borrows from the state to pay debt service on the bonds, the school district may be required to continue to levy millage beyond the term of the bonds to repay the state,” according to an election advertisement that appears in this week’s Enterprise.

Although the district is turning over much of its transportation services to the Bay Area Transportation Authority this fall, the district is still required to provide transportation for its special education students.

“Passing the bond issue is imperative in order for our students to be fully prepared to take on the technological demands society requires of them,” Nixon said.