Baxter school board hosts town meeting to discuss building project vote

For those still on the edge of supporting the upcoming Baxter Community School District bond issue for the renovation of the building, resident Doug Bishop had information to share: in favor of the bond, he told the crowd at the town hall meeting Nov. 13 why it is important for the community.

“The school bond vote is a paid insurance on the value of your home in the future of your community,” Bishop said. “For $20 to $30 per year for the average home in the Baxter school district, it’s going to increase the value of your home by at least 40 percent. If we don’t stay ahead of the curve and wait until the school becomes deteriorated, where we really need to make a change, we’re out of that game and it’s all done.”

Bishop was one of 40 Baxter residents present to listen in on a Baxter School Board town hall meeting. The goal of the meeting was to educate Baxter residents on the bond they are trying to get passed on the Dec. 11 ballot.

If passed, it will allow major improvements and expansion to the school building at 202 E. State St.

During the meeting, Baxter School Superintendent Mickolyn Clapper went over the history of the building, the bond referendum, the bond’s tax impact and goals for the project and took questions from the audience.

“Shall the Board of Directors of the Baxter Community School District in the Counties of Jasper and Marshall, State of Iowa, be authorized to contract indebtedness and issue General Obligation Bonds not to exceed $5.95 million to provide funds to build, furnish and equip an addition to its existing educational facility to replace the 1916 and 1924 buildings, to remodel, improve, furnish and equip the existing facility, and to improve the site,” the bond referendum states.

Clapper and Jon Northrup, Baxter School District board president, went into details about the project and what it will look like. Northrup said if a property is assessed to be $100,000, and go up to the maximum levy rate at $4.05 (over their current rate at $3.60), it would have an impact of $19 per year on property taxes.

“Our current bond is just about paid off. What we envision is when that’s paid off, the next cycle is when the new bonds will start getting payments,” Clapper said. “We plan to be pretty even and it shouldn’t up your taxes.”

Clapper went on to talk about the details of the building plans. She explained the goals of the project are to have a one-story floor plan that will add classrooms to the building. Voters can expect about $6 million going toward the renovations, taking place in summer 2019 and stretching across 24,570 square feet. Plans also include reducing the size of the administration space (where the principal and secretaries work), combining a STEM classroom with a green screen classroom and switching ascetics to a plastic laminate for each room’s counter surface.

Stacia Vansice, a cook for the school, was also in attendance and asked the board if the renovations will affect the water they get. Vansice said their dishes and dishwasher are taking a beating and the hard water is making it worse.

“We have hard water here in town, and really bad water issues. We’ve been having some equipment fall apart from the hard water,” Vansice said. “We’ve been pushing for a water softener, and we’ve been told they were planning on putting one in with this new addition. I just wanted to verify that.”

A building committee has been established in order to receive feedback from the community about their questions and concerns, as well as provide the marketing to vote yes on the bond.

Julia Heimer, band director for the Baxter school district, is part of that committee. She said members have been handing out flyers around town.

“Our youth group from school went door-to-door handing out flyers and telling community members about it if they haven’t already heard about it,” Heimer said. “We also have yard signs we will be continually putting out in yards.”

Curt Hansen, a former school board member from 1981 to 2014, was another guest who spoke about the bond. Hansen said at the last bond issue, the board, which Hansen was on at that time, wanted to get another 20 years out of the school facility, and they accomplished that.

“It’s a gradual thing. You need to satisfy the needs as they come along. That’s what we’ve always tried to do as a community with our school.

“The other good thing is they’re really not going to raise the taxes. One bond issue is paid off, so it’s going to remain what it is. So it won’t be a tax burden to the community,” Hansen said.

More information can be found on the campaign’s Facebook page, Building for Baxter Vote Yes 2018.

Contact Orrin Shawl at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or oshawl@newtondailynews.com