Construction Bond Proposal Will Be On Riverside’s Fall Ballot

Thu., June 13, 1996

By Jonathan Martin jonathanm@spokesman.com

Riverside School District has a deal for voters: approve a pair of bond issues totaling $2.8 million and get almost $6 million worth of school expansion and repair in return.

The deal comes via a state fund available to modernize aging schools. If Riverside voters approve a property tax hike in September, the district middle school will get a facelift paid for mostly by the state.

The Riverside School Board is expected to rubber stamp the proposed bond issues, drafted by a committee of administrators and taxpayers.

The proposal is in two parts. The first is a $2 million package that would pay for $4 million in new plumbing, electrical wiring, air conditioning and carpet at the middle school.

“It needs a lot of stuff you can’t see,” said Superintendent Jerry Wilson.

Included in the first bond proposal is a laundry list of small repairs, including $40,000 fiber optic network necessary to let classroom computers log onto the Internet, new athletic fields and a new $75,000 track surface.

The second bond proposal would pay for a $700,000 middle school gym, a security system, a high school greenhouse and wheelchair ramps and other disability accesses to comply to federal law.

Assistant superintendent Terry Weinmann said splitting the proposals would allow voters to decide how much they wanted to pay.

The first proposal would boost property tax rates about 68 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The second would add about 28 cents per $1,000.

Wilson said the bond issue would be on the September primary ballot to take advantage of what is expected to be a large voter turnout.

“If we don’t do it then, we don’t have a chance for a year and a half,” said Wilson.

, DataTimes

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