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New school
Monday, May 29, 2017
Page #2
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Denny Street. One of the first things the committee did was to evaluate the current conditions of each campus including the 1938 building to determine whether it would be available for renovation. After seeing a price tag of $17 million to renovate it as opposed to $15 million (today's cost) to tear down and rebuild a two-story new intermediate school campus on the existing property, the committee felt it was tax payer dollars better utilized. Howe High School 1992 graduate Sharla Ross gave the presentation for the Community Facility Committee and she told the board that cost utilization was among the top considerations by the committee due to Howe ISD having only approximately $20 million in bond capacity. Currently, Howe ISD still has a bond payment for Howe High School which will mature in 2029. Howe ISD Superintendent Kevin Wilson told the school board that there is a remarkable financial advantage to taking a $15 million bond rather than the full $20 million cap. With the lower issued bond, it would help taxpayers as well with only a $16.70 estimated monthly increase in taxes from the current 1.405 tax rate to 1.57.
"We also did discuss that if there were a 10-acre site in town (with utilities), that is certainly something we'd discuss," said Wilson.
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What appeared initially to be the obvious choice was construction on a 24-acre tract that the ISD owns at the northwest corner of Smith Road and Matthews Road. However, there are currently no utilities such as water and sewer which the cost of that service would have to be factored into the overall cost of the campus. Those overall figures came back at $24 million which was well over the bond capacity available to the ISD. Other options included an 8,000 square foot pre-school facility in the parking lot of Charles R. Thompson Gymnasium to the tune of $3.3 million, but that didn't relieve any of the crowding issues.
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An option was to build a new middle school site on the existing property and gradually rework the 13 acres more efficiently with teardowns and new construction, however, Phase 1 came in at a cost of $23.3 million which eliminated that plan. After the realization of alternative ideas away from the Denny Street Continued on page 9
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