Backers of an $80 million bond request and mill-levy override for the Adams 12 school district have come up with a simple, albeit mathematically challenged, campaign slogan: 3A+3B=A+Schools.
On the ballot as item 3B, the bond is expected to cost a total $181 million , maturing at 6.5 percent.
The bond would increase district taxes by $38.8 million per year, although there would be no tax increase for individual taxpayers because the district is retiring debt.
School district officials said half of the $80 million bond would go toward building new elementary schools: one at the Anthem development in Broomfield and the other at the Lewis Pointe Park development in Thornton.
The school district, which currently has 47 schools, also wants to install electronic card-access controls to older buildings, upgrade security systems and repair and renovate interior spaces — such as outdated mechanical and electrical systems — as well as exterior spaces.
Janelle Albertson , a spokeswoman for the Adams 12 School District, said the bond covers only “absolute needs.”
“That keeps what we have,” Albertson said of the proposed $80 million bond. “The actual capital construction need is at $250 million.”
The school district is also proposing a $9.9 million mill-levy override.
On the ballot as item 3A , the property tax would mean an additional $289 per student and would cost an additional $48 per year for each $100,000 of a home’s assessed value.
The override would help offset the increased cost of utilities, fuel and health care and help keep current bus services, among other operational costs.
Albertson said no formal opposition to either measure has emerged.
“Every school in the district will get something,” Albertson said. “Everyone in the area will benefit and be affected.”
In 2004, Adams 12 School District was granted a $180 million bond and a $9.9 million mill-levy override.
Sally S. Ho: 303-954-1638 or sho@denverpost.com
