We continue to work with our architects regarding our facility projects that were approved by the voters in the May bond election. Here are the tentative timelines for these four projects:
New Middle School
Site Package design: May 2018-October 2018
Site Package bids: November 2018
Site Package board award: December 2018
Site Package construction: December 2018-July 2020
Building Package design: May 2018-January 2019
Building Package bids: February 2019
Building Package board award: March 2019
Building Package construction: March 2019-July 2020
Existing Stadium Improvements (Football, Soccer, Track)
Design: June 2018-December 2018
Bids: January 2019
Board award: February 2019
Construction: February 2019-July 2019
Thomas Arnold Elementary School Additions
Design: July 2018-December 2018
Bids: January 2019
Board award: February 2019
Construction: May 2019-August 2019
Baseball/Softball/Practice Fields/Field Events
Design: October 2018-April 2019
Bids: May 2019
Board award: June 2019
Construction: June 2019-December 2019
We are also working with our financial advisor regarding the sale of the bonds. We are planning on waiting until February 2019 to sell the bonds. This will allow us to maintain our current tax rate of $1.2238 per $100 of appraised value for one more year. This is the lowest tax rate for our school district during the past 29 years – since the 1989-1990 school year. We will need to increase the tax rate to $1.54 per $100 of appraised value for the 2019-2020 school year to generate the revenue needed to cover the bond payments. This tax rate is equal to the tax rate of the school district to our south (Jarrell) and is still below the tax rate of the school district to our north (Belton).
Thus, the first increased bill for our taxpayers (including me) won’t be due until January 31, 2020. By then three of the four projects should be completed and the middle school should be nearing completion. When homeowners turn 65 years of age they need to file the homestead exemption paperwork with Bell County Appraisal District so that their school district property taxes cannot go above the amount they paid the year they file for the exemption.