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Poland voters to decide November bond for new K-5th, middle school buildings
By ROBERT CONNELLY
POLAND
Poland voters will decide in November on a bond issue to build a new elementary and middle school.
Superintendent Dave Janofa explained the district is moving forward with the second proposal discussed at the March 2 town-hall meeting, but this plan will have less millage. At its meeting Monday, the Poland board of education unanimously approved putting a 34-year bond issue on the ballot this fall.
The millage that voters will decide on will be calculated by the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office, but Janofa believes it will be near 4.78-mills to build a new K-5th-grade building and middle school. He said the estimated 4.78 mills would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $167.23 annually over the 34-year bond.
The state funding is through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission covering 19 percent of the cost. A detail of the plan is available on the district’s website, www.polandbulldogs.com, and has the state paying about $7 million for the project estimated at almost $37 million. The local share is $29,968,109. Within the plan is money the state has allocated for demolishing five of the district’s buildings, but no decision has been made on that.
Messages to board of education President Elinor Zedaker were not returned Tuesday.
Janofa further said that 1 mill from the 1990s will be paid off in 2017, making a net effect for Poland taxpayers of 3.78 mills for the new buildings if the bond issue is approved in November.
“It was very clear since that [March 2] meeting ... that it was the [residents’] opinion that this is what we should do and furthermore financially ... it made all the sense in the world,” Janofa explained.
The earliest students could move into new buildings would be 2019.
Janofa said the community will continue to be involved in the process, much like through the town-hall and community meetings, on the design plans.
“It’s going to be their design. Our buildings are community buildings. They belong to our taxpayers, and that is respected, and that is cherished,” Janofa said.
The new middle school would tie into the high school through the cafeteria, and there are two potential sites for the new K-5th-grade building.