The Wright City R-II School Board last week agreed to seek voter approval to have a performance gym constructed at the new high school. 

A $11-million no-tax increase bond measure will be decided by voters in the April 8 election. The initiative will need a four-sevenths majority, or 57.14 percent, for passage.

The school board voted 6-1 to proceed with the ballot measure at their meeting on Jan. 23. Beth Dean was the lone board member to oppose the measure. She preferred the district place the bond measure on the August ballot.

According to the ballot language, the district's debt service is estimated to remain unchanged at $0.9995 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The current high school only holds an auxiliary gym. If this bond is passed, varsity volleyball and basketball games will be played at the new high school. In general, the potential new gym will hold anything the gym at the old high school was utilized for. 

Brent Blevins, from Piper Sandler and Co., was hired by the district as their bond underwriter on Oct. 24. After gathering numbers, Blevins told the board that since the district’s debt amounts to less than 15% of its assessed value, the district has a bonding capacity of up to $11 million.

If voters approve the bond, Blevins believes the district can accrue roughly an additional $1.5 million in proceeds from premium bonds. Premium bonds are not counted against the district’s bonding capacity. 

Discussion surrounded the cost of the performance gym. According to Erik Wilson from Bond Architects, estimates for the performance gym range from $9.2 to $12.2 million. 

Wilson did note these estimates were based on drawings from the overall project when it was initially a part of the main high school construction. Since the performance gym was not part of the final construction of the new high school, updated drawings will be needed to provide more accurate cost estimates. 

Overall, Wilson believes the estimated cost will not go above $12.5 million since the gym does not need to be equipped as a storm shelter and the construction site is relatively flat. 

Board member Kyle Lewis added, “We are the fiduciaries of the taxpayer money in this district. Any and every design change that has to be made from the initial drawings has to be hawkishly reviewed and we have to hold these construction costs down to something below significantly what we are going to get this bonding for.” 

Lewis went on to express that there will be other projects the district will need and anywhere they can save money is a priority. 

“The $12 million isn’t acceptable. Personally for me, anything above $10 million isn’t acceptable,” Lewis said. 

While a concrete number is not applicable yet, school officials noted that if bids come in higher than what the board is comfortable with, the district would look at reducing the scope of the project, with board approval.    

Another point that was brought up was the rising costs of construction. 

Blevins added, “What people ask me a lot is when’s the best time to build? It would be yesterday…The bottom line is this is a project that the board chooses to do at some time, sooner rather than later, there is not a cheaper time to do it than today.” 

Dean, who opposed going to voters in April, is supportive of the project but expressed concerns about the timing. More specifically, Dean noted if they waited until the August election it would give the district more time to receive updated enrollment numbers and update the facilities plan.

“I understand there’s challenges around the August election that we don’t have in April but we do have good community support for this. If we feel like this is the right thing, this is what the community wants to do, then I think the community will show up and vote in August just like they would in April,” Dean said. 

Numerous board members understood Dean’s point of having more time to plan, but rising costs was the biggest concern due to Wilson projecting at least a 3% increase in construction costs due to inflation if the bond measure was passed during the August election, rather than in April.

“I think we kind of owe it to the community to get this project finished. We were awfully close the first round to being able to do all the projects and get the school done, but the 15% bonding capacity is what kind of ended that. Personally, I would like to see it move forward,” board member David Mikus said.