Wednesday, March 1, 2000
Mason, Kings, Little Miami schools
BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer contributor
MASON — Residents of the Mason School District would get a new high school and a recreation center if they approve a 6.78-mill bond issue expected to raise $71.9 million for the joint project.
It is one of three school issues on the March 7 ballot in Warren County.
The Kings and Little Miami schools are also asking voters to renew permanent improvement levies. In the Kings district, the five-year, three-mill levy would raise about $1 million annually, and in Little Miami, renewal of the 1.85-mill levy would bring district coffers about $315,000 each of the next five years, with collections beginning next January.
The Mason venture is the first time the city and the school district have so collaborated.
“We've had a lot of input from the public,” said Mason Mayor John McCurley, who added that the joint venture would save taxpayers at least $7 million because of its proximity to Mason High School. The money would be saved because the city already owns the land and the schools can use existing fields and stadiums.
“One of the concerns of the community is that we have a shared facility, yet separate. When you're in the community center, you won't know there's a high school next door. When you're in the high school, you won't know there's a community center next door,” Mr. McCurley said.
Plans call for the structures to be built on a 73-acre, city-owned tract along Mason-Montgomery Road, between Main Street and Mason High School. It would initially include a 355,000-square-foot high school built for 2,400 students but designed so that an 800-student wing could be added when enrollment warranted it.
Also built would be a 128,000-square-foot recreation center and a 28,000-square foot natatorium with both a competition pool and leisure pool. Eventually, Mason would build a city hall on the site.
If approved by voters, the high school would open in August 2002, with the recreation center opening six to eight months later.
The debt has been structured in such a way that when collections on the bond issue begin next January, if voters approve, the owner of a house with a market value of $200,000 would pay an additional $249 annually in new taxes.
The other school issues are:
• Kings Local: The $5 million permanent improvement levy over five years would pay for several projects already identified. They include $1.5 million to upgrade technology; $575,000 to buy school buses; $1.75 million to air-condition J.F. Burns Elementary and Kings Junior High; $500,000 to upgrade recreation facilities; and $675,000 for building repairs and improvements. If the levy is approved, taxes would not be raised.
•
Little Miami: The $1.575 million the Little Miami Schools would expect to get over the next five years would be used to maintain the district's four older buildings once the new high school opens in August. The money would be used to pay for projects outlined in a five-year plan. These include roof replacements; buying school buses, furniture and equipment; locker room renovations at the junior high school; and other projects. If approved, the levy would not raise taxes.
Back to Primary 2000 page
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