Central Valley School District Bond Q&A

On Sept. 15, residents of the Central Valley School District will vote on a $78 million school bond. The measure would build two new high schools.

Send your questions about the bond election to the Valley Voice. Between now and election day, we’ll try to answer as many queries as we can.

Q. What will happen to the existing University High School?

A. The school district intends to sell all or most of the facility. Preliminary budget figures for the bond construction show the district expects to raise $4 million by selling the property. That money would go toward building the new U-Hi.

Q. We own a home assessed at $200,000. Can you help us figure out what the bond would cost us?

A. Under a tax rate of 57 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, your annual bond payment for the new high schools would be $114 a year.

Existing school taxes in the Central Valley School District include a tax rate of $1.54 per $1,000 on previous bond measures and another $3.43 per $1,000 for the levy that’s decided every two years by voters for the maintenance and operation of schools.

So, today’s annual tax payment for schools on a $200,000 home, based on a current tax rate of $4.97 per $1,000, is $994.

Add the CV bond measure to that, and the tax payment for schools on the same home would be $1,108 a year. The new tax rate, if the bond measure passes, would be $5.54 per $1,000. That’s marginally lower than the tax rates in East Valley and West Valley school districts.