District weighs levy, building options

Wickliffe School Board is revisiting the topic of establishing a long-term facilities plan.

This discussion resurfaced at the most recent board meeting after the initial reconfiguration plan was delayed. In that plan the current middle school was going to be converted to a grades K-6 building and the current high school to a grades 7-12 facility. However Superintendent Joseph Spiccia recommended that the board delay the reconfiguration project for one year and continue to pursue its study of new/ renovated facilities.

So for the past six months a Community Finance Committee comprised of financial experts and district representatives researched options and prepared a

recommendation for the future of school facilities.

According to the presentation led by committee members Mary Ann Sason and Amy Himmelein, the group reviewed Wickliffe’s historical and current tax base, demographics and income trends; and they also reviewed the district’s financial management and compared it with other districts. They also reviewed financing tools available to Ohio districts; reviewed and modeled funding options, discussed survey results and determined funding options.

“Our thought is a newer facility may attract younger families with children and support home values,” Sason

said.

The targeted amount that needs to be raised is $40 million to renovate and add on to the current high school to create a grade K-12 campus.

The district is well-managed with a decent general fund reserve, despite having lower than average state funding, Himmelein said.

“Because of that lower than average state funding, it just means we are more reliant on the individual tax payers,” she said. “We have $11,980,000 and we still need to raise $28,020,000. Our recommendation is to issue Certificates of Participation (which is a form of financing) backed by a permanent improvement levy. We would need a 6.49-mill (levy) to bring in the estimated 1,805,000 annually to make the payments we need to make.”

The $28,020,000 from the permanent improvement levy revenue and the existing $11,980,000 will cover the $40 million needed for the project.

However Sason said “$40 million will not be enough for extras such as an auditorium and track and field house.”

Board member Gail Willis asked how much additional money would be needed for the auditorium and track and field house.

“I consider an auditorium for our music and arts program to be not really an extra, because I think we have a really good history of that here,” Willis said. “We have a lot of talented kids and I would never want to see that discontinued. I just feel like if we do construction and we don’t do that initially, we would never

do it.”

Sason said the add-ons would be about $6 million to $10 million.

The mileage for the levy would also increase to 9 mills if $10 million was added to the total cost, Spiccia said.

Board President Daniel J. Thomeier questioned if these recommendations included a second gym.

If a K-12 campus is created, the district will lose two gyms at the middle school and the high school currently does not have two gyms, he said.

“Our high school football field is one of the very few high school football fields in the entire area that is not turf,” Thomeier said. “My opinion is that we go for the best that we can have.”

Since the architectural designs for the proposed $40 million K-12 campus

have not been outlined, the committee could not provide details about all the facility offerings.

A resident added that the committee should see if the district is eligible for any funding through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.

The board needs to vote to file the resolution of necessity with the County Auditor by mid-July, file the election proceedings with the Board of Elections by Aug. 8 and must act at the July meeting to add the levy to the November ballot. However, the board agreed that they would like to get more information before proceeding.

A special meeting may be held prior to the regular meeting in July to discuss any additional findings, Thomeier said.