PERRYSBURG – Booming enrollment and aging buildings will be addressed if district voters support a 5.95-mill bond next week.
The millage will raise $140 million to construct new school facilities, renovate and expand existing buildings, furnish and equip buildings and acquire land.
The cost to taxpayers would be $520.63 a year ($43.39 per month) for a home with an appraised value of $250,000 and $728.88 annually ($60.74 per month) for a home with an appraised value of $350.000, according to numbers provided by the Wood County Auditor’s Office.
The millage will be collected for a period not to exceed 36 years.
Perrysburg Schools Superintendent Tom Hosler explained the decision to go with a property tax made sense, because as the city grows, more homeowners will contribute thus reducing everyone’s rate.
“With bond issues in Perrysburg, a property tax was attractive,” he said. “Because of the growth we’re experiencing, bond issues have been reduced.”
He gave as an example the 2.94 mills that were approved in 2014 for Hull Prairie Intermediate School that last year collected 1.5 mills. That is a decrease of 51% in nine years, he said.
According to numbers presented to the school board earlier this year, the amount taxpayers paid dropped from $21.46 per month to approximately $10.94 per month for a home valued at $250,000.
The district is also retiring 1.62 mills at the end of next year, which will provide some relief, Hosler said.
The facilities planning committee spent more than 14 months considering all options.
The plan has two phases.
Phase 1, for $140 million, includes:
• A new 800 student elementary in the southwest quadrant of the district, $35.2 million.
Hosler said the district will engage teachers, families and students in deciding what is needed in the new school. If funding is approved next week, the new elementary could be ready to open at the end of 2026.
• High school classroom, cafeteria additions and site work, $32.5 million.
• Deferred maintenance at Fort Meigs, Toth and Woodland elementaries, $26.5 million.
• Fort Meigs, Toth and Woodland additions, $25.2 million.
There is no timeline on when this work will be finished, but estimates are from 2027-2029 for the three buildings, Hosler said.
He explained the lengthier timeline is because crews working on existing buildings will have to work around school schedules.
“When you build a brand-new building, you’re working with a blank slate,” he said.
• Junior high deferred maintenance, $15.5 million.
• Steinecker Stadium – new restrooms and entrance, $2.5 million.
• Transportation garage addition, $1.5 million.
• High school boilers/chillers, $1.2 million.
The facilities planning committee recommended Frank Elementary continue being used until the three existing elementary schools are expanded and the new elementary school opens. The facility then can be used as a preschool.
Perrysburg’s preschool, which serves more than 200 students, is currently located in Maumee at Union Elementary.
The last time the district added two schools in one decade was Toth in 1952 and Frank in 1958. The high school opened in 2001 and Hull Prairie Intermediate School opened in 2017.
The committee was firm on the commitment to remove modular classrooms in the district.
Currently, there are five modulars with 16 classrooms at Woodland, Fort Meigs and Frank elementaries. Another 40 would be needed – some at every building — to address growth in enrollment. The cost of adding that many modulars is estimated at $7.59 million.
Since 2012, the school district has grown by 19% or 919 students.
This project, if approved by voters, would provide 105 classrooms, which the facilities committee identified as the primary need to address growth through 2040.
The district has applied to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission and if approved should get up to 30% reimbursement – or $42 million — from the state once Perrysburg becomes eligible.
OFCC doesn’t give an exact date, Hosler said.
“They estimate it will take five years, give or take,” he said.
The reimbursement can go toward financing Phase 2 or used to pay down the debt, he said.
A future board of education will make that decision, he added.
The preliminary Phase 2, which is estimated to cost $63.8 million, includes:
• Junior high school additions, deferred maintenance and site work, $29.7 million.
• Hull Prairie Intermediate additions, $5 million.
• Multi-purpose space at the high school, $23.3 million.
• Deferred maintenance at Frank Elementary, $5.8 million.
