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LARWILL - The Whitko School Board approved the second preliminary determination for the district’s proposed projects during a meeting Monday.
The determination hearing, as stated by Board President Scott Werstler, “is for the renovation of and improvement to school facilities including deferred maintenance improvements, site improvements, the purchase of equipment, buses, vehicles and technology.” The notice of the preliminary determination hearing was published, and the first hearing was on Aug. 17.
Whitko Business Manager Lynn Leininger stated, “Before a school corporation can spend more than $1 million to build, repair or alter a school building, which will be financed by bonds, they must hold a public hearing.
Whitko’s Municipal Advisor Mike Therber of Therber and Brock, noted that since the adoption was not approved at the September meeting, the date for the bond issue to be paid will be three years, ending on Jan. 15, 2031, instead of 2030. He noted “this will have no increase in interest, but simply be issued later.”
Therber gave the maximum amount the school would have to pay in interest, which would be at 6% and would total $341,800, but ne noted it was on the very high end and “if you would look at selling bonds today, you would be looking at something a little below 3.5%.” He told the board the bond, totalling $3 million, would be given in two separate chunks of $1.5 million.
“The goal and the plan is for those two figures (the debt service levy and the debt service tax rate) to not increase after having issued both series of bonds to cover your bus purchases,” said Therber.
Board Secretary Lynn Studebaker noted concerns “because of Whitko’s decline in enrollment,” there could be cuts made in order to not take out the bonds. She noted after speaking with Leininger about the concern about needing bonds to pay for buses, “and it doesn’t seem fair to tax payers to make them pay interest on bonds for something we should be saving for.”
The board approved the project resolution, the preliminary determination resolution, the preliminary bond resolution, the expenditure reimbursement resolution, the resolution 01-10-19-2026 to adopt the 2027 school budget, the 2027 capital project plan, bus replacement plan, education to operations transfer and the overall tax levy resolution with a 3-1 vote.
All documentation can be found on the Whitko Community Schools website.
