NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — The New Philadelphia Board of Education took the first step Monday toward placing a $41.9 million bond issue on the November general election ballot to building a new centralized middle school/high school and a centralized elementary school.
Board members voted unanimously to adopt a resolution declaring the necessity of submitting the issue to the voters. A second vote will be required once the county auditor certifies the millage for the bond issue.
The project, estimated to cost around $100 million, calls for construction of the new middle school/high school near Buckeye Career Center and Kent State University at Tuscarawas and the elementary school in the downtown area. All of the existing buildings in the district would be torn down and the land would be sold for redevelopment.
The package going before voters would include a 0.5-mill maintenance levy, which would be permanent, and a 1.3-mill levy to provide addition funds for the project. The state would contribute about $55 million.
Treasurer Julie Erwin said the estimate is that the package would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $17.87 per month.
"This is the perfect timing for it, with the overcrowding that we have, the aging facilities and the crossroads that we're at with these wonderful facilities that the community worked so hard 75 years ago or more to put together," Superintendent David Brand said.
He said it is the perfect opportunity for New Philadelphia to provide better educational services and equal services to all students in the district, no matter their address.
The new buildings would also decrease operating expenses, pushing back the need for a new operating levy by as much as 15 years, Brand said.
The final details have not been worked out yet on the exact locations of the two new schools, or which one would be built first. The superintendent said all of the details of where the facilities would go and the timing of their construction would be concrete by November.
During the special meeting to vote on the bond issue, retired banker Dan Perkins asked if the district had had an independent audit to see what the cost would be to maintain the existing buildings compared to building new.
Brand said that was one of the options the district looked out. It was determined that it would be far more expensive to remodel the existing buildings. Funding for a remodeling project would come entirely from local taxpayers.
Board member Dave Frantz said it would cost New Philadelphia $14.7 million to maintain the roofs and parking lots of existing buildings, and then in 10 years it would have to pay out another $14.7 million on maintenance.
He noted that the district's older buildings would not qualify for any state funding at all for renovations.
The traffic flow around existing schools is also a problem, Brand said. It poses safety concerns for students and faculty, as well as people living in the neighborhoods around the schools. Heavy traffic times make it challenging for first responders to get to residents in the area.
The state would help with traffic studies to improve the flow, he said.
Paula Fawcett, who lives on Fair Avenue NE across from East School, agreed that traffic is a problem. She told of sitting on her front porch and watching a fire truck try to come up Fair Avenue when school was letting out. The cars in the way of the fire truck did not move because there was no place for them to go.
As a grandmother, she said an education "is the most valuable thing you can give your child. And to say that we can't afford it, I don't buy that. I absolutely don't buy that."
She said area restaurants are always full, and she advised people not to go out one night a month to help pay for the bond issue. "For me, I want my kids safe."
