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Oswego District 308 to decide next month on $317 million bond referendum for November ballot · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Oswego District three hundred and eight to decide next month
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  Speaker 1: on three hundred seventeen million dollars bond referendum for November ballot.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Eric Shelkoff, This article is being read by
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  Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. As Oswego
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  Speaker 1: School District three hundred and eighth buildings continue to age,
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  Speaker 1: more problems are arising. Last summer, Oswego East High School
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  Speaker 1: had to shift to e learning for a couple of
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  Speaker 1: days at the beginning of the school year following a
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  Speaker 1: drain pipe malfunction during severe storms, and the district recently
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  Speaker 1: had to get emergency repairs done to a cooling system
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  Speaker 1: at Boulder Hill Elementary School that was not working. Oswego
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  Speaker 1: School Board members will decide August tenth whether to put
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  Speaker 1: a three hundred seventeen million dollars bond referendum on the
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  Speaker 1: November third general election ballot to address aging infrastructure needs
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  Speaker 1: throughout the district. The district had a facility assessment done
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  Speaker 1: of its twenty two schools. School district officials said nearly
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  Speaker 1: seventy percent of the schools were built between two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and one and two thousand and eight and are now
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  Speaker 1: reaching the age where major systems need replacement. They went
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  Speaker 1: through every single building with building engineers. Dist three hundred
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  Speaker 1: and eight chief Communications Officer Teresa Comatas said, it's a
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  Speaker 1: full facility assessment and it's all loaded into a computer
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  Speaker 1: program now, which allows for our operations team to be
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  Speaker 1: able to look at any single facility and see what
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  Speaker 1: the current conditions are, as well as kind of predict
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  Speaker 1: what's at past or near the end of life and
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  Speaker 1: what's likely to be the next big issues for us.
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  Speaker 1: The district quickly expanded from just six schools to twenty
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  Speaker 1: two schools to meet the rapid growth in Oswego in
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  Speaker 1: the late nineteen nineties and early two thousands. Seventeen new
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  Speaker 1: schools were built in just twelve years. District's enrollment surged
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  Speaker 1: from about four thousand students in nineteen ninety two to
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  Speaker 1: more than seventeen thousand students in twenty thirteen. They were
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  Speaker 1: all built in that small window of time, Komita said.
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  Speaker 1: Officials said the proposed referendum dedicates seventy nine percent of
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  Speaker 1: funds to critical infrastructure upgrades, including improvements to h VAC
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  Speaker 1: systems and roof replacement. Flooring, plumbing, electrical and building exterior
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  Speaker 1: improvements also are being proposed. They noted that bond proceeds
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  Speaker 1: can only be used for facility and spites improvements, not salaries,
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  Speaker 1: benefits or operating costs. The school district serves portions of Kendall,
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  Speaker 1: will and Kane Counties. The referendum would fund facility improvements
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  Speaker 1: at all of the district's schools. District officials said they
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  Speaker 1: have identified about three hundred seventeen million dollars in facility
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  Speaker 1: needs over the next ten years across all the district's schools.
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  Speaker 1: District three three hundred and eight Chief financial Officer and
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  Speaker 1: Chief School Business Official, Rafael Ubefimi said the district would
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  Speaker 1: prefer addressing building needs in a timely fashion. For one thing,
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  Speaker 1: the district can get the improvements done at a better
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  Speaker 1: crisis than if it was an emergency situation. He said.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, it's beneficial for the
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  Speaker 1: taxpayer if we have a referendum and we plan out
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  Speaker 1: the project and we do it in an efficient, cost
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  Speaker 1: effective way. Obafemi said not to mention the fact there
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  Speaker 1: is a disruption to the educational experience for students as
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  Speaker 1: well as staff when we do emergency repairs. District three
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  Speaker 1: hundred and eight superintendent Andlib Calgati agreed, noting what happened
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  Speaker 1: at Boulder Hill Elementary School. We know that we're going
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  Speaker 1: to have multiple Boulder Hill situations in the next two
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  Speaker 1: to three years, he said, and we can either choose
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  Speaker 1: to replace those parts sooner before it breaks completely, or
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  Speaker 1: we can wait until the emergency comes and then we'll
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  Speaker 1: have to start closing schools. Impact on taxpayers because the
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  Speaker 1: district is retiring existing long term debt. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: homeowners would see a decrease in the debt service portion
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  Speaker 1: of their property taxes even if the referendum is approved.
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  Speaker 1: Officials said, for a home with a fair market value
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  Speaker 1: of three hundred thousand dollars, residents would pay about one
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars less per year starting in twenty twenty eight,
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  Speaker 1: and an additional fifty six dollars less beginning in twenty
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  Speaker 1: thirty six. The district said. More information about the proposed
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  Speaker 1: referendum is available at SD three zero eight dot org
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  Speaker 1: slash update three zero eight