Finley asking for $10 million to fix aging buildings

Finley School District officials want to make a series of improvements to their facilities before they become problems.

The district is asking voters to approve a $10 million bond. Ballots are being mailed this week and are due back by Feb. 14.

“We’ve done a good job of keeping what we have, but we’re getting to that point where we can’t keep up with the big projects,” Superintendent Lance Hahn said.

Community members started developing a list of 21 projects included in the bond about two years ago.

“This isn’t my bond. This isn’t the district’s bond. This is community-driven from day one,” Hahn said. “I’ve got a great community committee. They just want what’s best for kids.”

About 900 students attend classes in the district’s three schools, Hahn said.

“The bond will effect every kid that steps foot in this district,” he said.

The last time the district went to voters for a bond was in 1999, when they approved $4.7 million to pay for a new wing at Finley Middle School and other improvements. The final payment on that bond was made in 2011.

“We haven’t gone out for a bond for 17 years. I’d like to keep it that way,” Hahn said. “If we do these upgrades I feel like we can continue without having to go back and having to ask for another bond.”

The proposed 20-year bond is expected to cost property owners about $1.44 per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a $200,000 home, it would add about $288 a year.

The district’s operations levy is $4.10 per $1,000 of assessed value.

For the bond, Finley officials divided the projects into four groups. The largest, about $4 million, would fix several problems across the district.

They include replacing the middle school roof with metal. The district spends $5,000 to $10,000 each year replacing tiles that blow off during windstorms.

The money also would pay to replace lighting, because the fluorescent tubes the district uses are no longer manufactured. Employees turned to online retailers and other districts to buy them. They collected enough to supply the schools for another couple of years.

The list also includes replacing the elementary school’s 24-year-old carpet and its fire suppression system, and upgrading technology.

Another $2.6 million would be for a set of improvements to the district’s athletic fields and physical education programs.

The original football grandstand was built in 1978, and people in wheelchairs can’t use them.

A new set of bleachers was added in 1997, but since they were placed on the ground, the players block the view of people in the first four rows.

Plans call for a new set of bleachers and crow’s nest on the other side of the field. The addition would allow the district to add new bathrooms and a concession stand, and the crow’s nest would allow the announcer can see the field.

Other projects include replacing the elementary school gym floor, modernizing the locker rooms and fixing the baseball field and track.

Another $2.1 million would be for improvements at the Career and Technical Education building and upgrading the greenhouses.

Formerly a bus garage, the Career and Technical Education building is receiving an upgrade after the district received a $3 million STEM grant.

The district intended to build additional storage, but planning costs meant officials canceled it. A portion of the bond is going to allow them to add it.

The additional storage will help the district with its agriculture-based science program, which requires children to perform a lot of experiments. Hahn said since the district started the curriculum, student science test scores have improved.

“So there are a lot of materials,” he said. “Right now, we case it up, move it in, move it out. It takes up class time.”

The money would also pay for putting a new plastic skin on the district’s greenhouses. The material was intended to last about 15 years, Hahn said, but it’s been there for 28.

The remaining $405,000 would be spent on replacing and adding security cameras at all of the buildings, and replacing the key locks with a security card system.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Finley asking for $10 million to fix aging buildings."