BELLVILLE ISD CALLS BOND ELECTION
TWO PROPOSITIONS TOTAL $112.4 MILLION
Bellville ISD has officially called a bond election for this fall.
Last Thursday, the board of trustees unanimously voted in favor of calling the bond election, which will present voters living within Bellville ISD with two propositions totaling $112.4 million.
Proposition A, valuing at $104.6 million, would allow for the construction of a new high school and renovations to current facilities. The 208,000 square-foot high school would be built for 800 students and designed for 1,000.
Proposition B values at $7.8 million, and would provide for a sports complex at the new high school, featuring facilities for baseball, softball and tennis with restrooms and concessions.
If passed, Bellville Junior High School students grades 6-8 would move to the current high school campus. The junior high school would then house third grade students from O’Bryant Primary School, along with fourth and fifth graders at O’Bryant Intermediate School, which would be demolished and used for parking for O’Bryant Primary. The O’Bryant Intermediate gymnasium would remain.
O’Bryant Primary would house pre-kindergarten through second grade students. West End Elementary School in Industry would continue to serve kindergarten through fifth grade students in that area of Bellville ISD.
If both bonds are approved, the district’s tax rate would increase by up to 24 cents per $100 valuation, breaking down to 22 cents for Proposition A and 2 cents for Proposition B. The estimated impact on a median household valued at $203,000 would be $360 a year, $330 for Proposition A and $30 for Proposition B.
Click here to read more about the bond proposals.
Why does a new school building and sports complex justify loans (bonds) to pay for? Shouldn’t this have been planned for and budgeted many years ago? Pertaining to Proposition A, age and deterioration affect all structures, and it is not a surprise. It seems to me that if this was an unexpected emergency, a loan may be justified, but it is not. Like the old adage at work goes, “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
As for Proposition B, didn’t BISD waste, I mean spend, millions of “extra” dollars several years ago on an unplanned artificial turf for the Bellville High School football field? Shouldn’t this money have been put aside and a plan put together on how to spend it properly, be it for a new turf, a sports complex, or something else???
We shouldn’t be saddled with having to pay hundreds or thousands more each year in property taxes because of lack of forethought. I urge BISD voters to defeat these bond proposals.