PORT ANGELES — Business leaders grilled Port Angeles School District officials over a proposed $98 million bond to replace most of Port Angeles High School earlier this week.
Questions from those at the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting Monday ranged from the energy efficiency of the new school design and details of how the taxes would be applied to the question of if a school could be built for less money.
The proposed bond is one of two questions the school district has placed on the Feb. 10 special election ballot.
If voters approve, the bond would fund replacement of eight classroom buildings and refurbishment of the auditorium on the 11-building campus.
A separate issue before voters will be a two-year maintenance-and-operations levy, which would collect $8.6 million in 2016 and $8.8 million in 2017.
Replacement levy
The levy is a replacement for a four-year levy that will expire in December 2015.
The estimated tax rate would be $3.26 per $1,000 of assessed value.
The present levy collected $8,443,062 for the district in 2014. The taxes collected in 2014 were on a levy rate for 2013. That levy rate was $3.23 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
A 60 percent majority is required for voter passage of a school bond issue.
In addition, there must be a 40 percent voter turnout based on the number of votes cast in the school district in the Nov. 4 general election.
Maintenance-and-operations levies are a primary source of funding for school districts to pay for utilities, student transportation, such extracurricular activities as athletics and special music programs, health services, maintenance, technology, career technical education and basic education.
“What if the bond raises more money than the actual cost of the high school?” an audience member asked.
State law requires that all projects associated with the project must be completed first, said Kelly Pearson, district finance and operations director.
After that, district officials must consider other projects within the district or pay down the existing debt, she said, with public forums required for district voters to weigh in as to how they want any remaining funds spent before decisions are made.
The district has two elementary schools in need of replacement, and expansion and renovation of Stevens Middle School, she said.
Another audience member asked if a smaller, less expensive school could be built, considering the uncertain enrollment in the district.
Price tag ‘average’
The price tag of the school seems high, Pearson said, but is just about average for new schools in small cities in Western Washington.
She said a high school that will fit the current and near-future population of about 1,100 students cannot be built for much less unless the district sacrifices basic quality of construction.
“We won’t be coming back with a smaller bond amount,” Pearson said.
The replacement of the aging and increasingly expensive-to-operate 61-year-old high school is necessary, and the district will return to voters until it is approved, she said.
With construction costs rising and the current record-low interest rates, the cost of building a new school may remain the same for about a year but would likely go up by about 4 percent each year, said Steve Methner, co-chairman of Port Angeles Citizens for Education.
Replacement or rehabilitation of the gymnasium was put on hold, and the auditorium will be upgraded and integrated into the new building.
The 1,205-seat auditorium is among the eight largest performance spaces in Washington state and has “world-class” acoustics, Methner said.
It was designed by performance center architects who later went on to design parts of the Lincoln Center in New York City and the United Nations building, Methner said.
Green design
Audience members also questioned whether the school would be designed for energy efficiency.
State law requires an energy-efficient design of the new school, Pearson said.
Currently, the district pays $60,000 per month in utilities at the high school, Pearson said, and referred details of the question to Nolan Duce, director of maintenance and facilities.
On Tuesday, Duce said the current cost of electrical service is $15,000 per month.
The district’s heating bill would be reduced by 75 percent, he said.
Duce said the use of natural light and large windows also will reduce the amount of lighting required in the school and provide natural heating.
“We wouldn’t install the windows unless they are efficient. Very little heat would be lost through them,” he said.
The district wants to add solar panels to the south-facing roofs of the school and a “ground loop” geothermal heating and cooling system that would pay for itself in four to six years while further reducing the district’s electric bill in the future.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
