Mead Levy, Bond Pass In Record Turnout Money Will Help District Overhaul High School, Expand Opportunities For Students

Mead School District patrons approved a $25 million bond issue and a $16 million operations renewal levy Tuesday.

The 7,150 ballots cast marked the largest voter turnout in the history of the school district.

Unofficially, 65.6 percent of the voters approved the bond and 74.6 percent approved the levy.

Most of the money from the bond will go toward overhauling an often brokendown Mead High School, which was opened in 1972.

“Obviously people were very supportive that we complete these projects,” said Mead Superintendent Bill Mester.

“This represents the final phase of a 10-year plan to upgrade our facilities. This provides us the foundation for being able to have equitable opportunities for all students in the district,” he said.

Passage of the bond means the district is now eligible to receive $9.5 million in state matching funds. It also has a $9 million surplus to spend from its capital funds project.

More than half that surplus came from savings on the new Mt. Spokane High School, which cost $32 million to build. A total of $31 million will be spent to upgrade Mead.

Before the election, many patrons said they would vote against the bond because they thought leftover money from Mt. Spokane would cover repairs at Mead.

“But even back then we didn’t have an estimate on what repairs (to Mead) would cost,” Mester said. “We weren’t in a position to tell them what the cost would be.”

Construction at Mead is scheduled to begin in May 1999. The project will be done in phases. When school is in session, a portion of the building will be vacated for the contractor. Students will attend classes around the construction area.

Property taxes on homes will rise by 61 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The length of the bond is 13 years.

The estimated tax rate for the 1999 and 2000 levy will provide a continued source of funding for activities and programs.

The two-year levy of $7,778,000 for 1999 and $8,168,000 for 2000 replaces the 1997 and 1998 voter-approved levy.

The bond issue provides funding to construct, equip and upgrade buildings. The levy provides local funding to maintain and operate the district’s day-to-day educational programs.

, DataTimes