The Littleton Public Schools board is considering a proposal that would ask voters to unlock $80 million in bonds to fix ailing schools, without raising taxes.
The board was scheduled to discuss the potential ballot measure Aug. 28 at its regular meeting.
The ballot measure idea started with the district’s financial advisory committee, which said that the best way to address the many maintenance issues at facilities was through a bond election.
The $80 million would be unlocked without raising taxes because the district refinanced existing bonds, lowering the interest rate to 2.9 percent from 5.2 percent. That savings garnered the district $80 million it can use, with voter approval.
“It was a good refinancing,” LPS superintendent Scott Murphy said. “It was a very smart business decision and allows the community to keep a strong foundation.”
In 2010, voters approved a $12 million mill-levy override.
The proposal would fix problems at about 26 facilities, including charter schools. The average age of the facilities is 50 years, and the oldest facility is 93 years old.
At Damon Runyon Elementary School, which was built in the late 1960s, old roof trusses are failing. For now, the school has support beams in several parts of the school.
“Of course, it’s not the optimal thing you want in your classroom, but the teachers, the staff, the kids, the parents have all been very supportive,” Runyon principal Trudy Meisinger said.
Installing a new roof at Runyon will cost about $1 million, according to LPS Chief Operations Officer Diane Doney. She said $80 million will take care of the majority of the work needed, which also includes a very old boiler and other old equipment for which the district maintenance team has to make parts because the manufacturer no longer does.
She said most of the 26 facilities have at least partially failing roofs.
Murphy said there are fire alarm systems so old they have to make parts for them and that gets to be expensive in the long run, versus installing new equipment. About $800,000 is needed to upgrade heating, air conditioning and plumbing at Ralph Moody Elementary School.
Doney said that in previous years when HVAC systems failed in the late summer months, parents pulled their kids out of school. Some rooftop boiler units also interfere with learning because they are loud.
At several of the schools, asbestos needs to be removed from ceilings, and windows need to be replaced, which the district can do at the same time it upgrades HVAC and fire systems, Doney said.
Some of the money would go to upgrade antiquated electrical systems at most of the 26 facilities. New systems would allow the district to provide more high-tech classrooms.
“Our wireless capacity is stretched,” Murphy said. “We anticipate our electrical needs to increase 350 percent in the next four years.”
He said if the district installs new lines, it will be able to consolidate lines and actually save money over time.
Some irrigation systems also are several decades old and don’t adequately water the fields.
Murphy said the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce is behind the bond measure and, overall, public support has been positive. He said voters would have to take action this year because interest rates are expected to go up, which could result in the district getting $60 million or less.
“Timing is kind of everything,” Doney said.
Murphy stressed voting for the bond will not increase taxes, but he is worried people will think it does when lumped together with other initiatives asking for an increase.
“The costs aren’t going away whether the public wants to do it now or wait,” Doney said. “The borrowing cost will go up.”
Clayton Woullard: 303-954-2671, cwoullard@denverpost.com or
