001It's just coffee. >> Okay. Um, your Wednesday, December 17th meeting called Mr. >> Mr. Mrs. Mrs. I think for this meeting everyone should just make sure please to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Moving to section C, our meeting agenda statement. This meeting is a meeting of the board of education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and it is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda. Um, I'm just hitting pause here. >> All right. Section D, board recommendations. Um we are doing a resolution of necessity which is the approval of the resolution declaring
002the necessity of submitting to the electors of the school district. A single question of levying a school district income tax on income of individuals residing in the school district and issuing school improve bonds in the aggregate principal amount of $7,630,000 pursuant to section 5748.08 of the revised code and then discussion discussion. We got a motion please first second. So unfortunately our video uh last night did not record sound. So we uh have the video there's no sound with it. However, Scott, who is one of our reporters, did record the meeting. So, we're trying to get his tape from the meeting and then we'll sync it with the video. But in case that doesn't pan out, we thought that Jen and I would just do a quick recap of kind of the why quickly just go
003through the slides that we're going to attach and then talk a little bit about the um the SDIT and the bond. So, I did want to start, you know, for those that are sitting here, this is redundant because you heard it last night, but I do think it's important um for those who are going to watch this um to hear a little bit about the why. So, I'm going to do that one more time and then um just quickly go through the presentation if that's okay. So, um, I wanted to remind everyone that our buildings, and we're talking about the primary school and the middle school specifically, um, have served generations of families in Independence for a very long time. Our primary school was built in 1965 when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president with an
004addition in 1999, which is the kindergarten wing currently. The middle school was built uh, which was originally the high school was built back in the early 1960s when John F. was president. Um, these buildings were never designed to meet today's expectations for safety, accessibility, air quality, and learning. Uh, they have stood the the the test of time as far as how they were built, uh, which is a testament to how things were built back then. Um, but we really need to focus on what we're going to do with those buildings moving forward. In 2019, the district asked uh the voters to support a 32 million bond for 000 foot new preK to8 school. Nearly 50% of the voters participated in independence in the bond fail by just 385 votes. Uh it was a close uh
005vote but we learned a lot from it and that really has shaped our planning, our communication and our transparency that you're seeing today. The need is not theoretical. It really is happening. The other day we had to close the middle school because of a corroded and rusted pipe backflow plate that then leaked water uh into the first floor of the middle school. We also had an issue at the primary school a couple days ago with water coming in through the girls bathroom in the ceiling. Uh and we had to hire plumbers and roofers to come out and try to fix these with the band-aid. We know we need a new roof. We know we need to redo all of our plumbing in that middle school. that is extremely expensive and it's not something that you
006do because of the cost. Uh so right now we're really just doing mandates. Um, and we have ongoing challenges that are facing our facilities from no central HBAC or air conditioning in the primary school except for the new wing, aging roofs, boilers and plumbing, poor air quality, ADA non compliance which is a huge one for me in key areas. Outdated safety and security systems and poor electrical systems. Uh despite the incredible efforts of our maintenance staff, the repairing of our buildings is past their useful life is no longer responsible. Um we also recognize that anytime there's a levy or a bond issue, it becomes a little contentious and divisive because people have certain things that they want or they have certain ideas of how they think it should happen. And unfortunately in Ohio, even though
007it is unconstitutional, we rely heavily on our global taxpayers to fund our education. And it places a real strain on all of us. And we acknowledge that. But I know that everyone listening to this, everyone here tonight wants the same thing, which is safe, modern facilities, natural light and clean air, accessible spaces for all learners, opportunities for collaboration, and schools that our students really want to come to every day. It is our job to provide that because our students deserve it and that's what cultivating a legacy of excellence looks like in action. As part of this planning process, we were also very intentional intentional about where a new prek8 building should be located and just as importantly why it should not be built on the current middle school site. Constructing a new building on the
008existing middle school footprint would require extensive swing space. That means we have to place students and staff in temporary trailers that we would have to purchase or rent, which is extremely expensive. We would have to manage heightened security concerns and then have teaching and learning happening while instruction occurs directly outside classroom windows, increased noise, disruption, and safety risks. Someone mentioned maybe relocating the middle school to maybe some office space. That would have that would come with significant costs to move classrooms, offices, materials, and programs to an off-site rental space and then paying again to move everything back once construction is complete. Swing space is not just inconvenient. It is educationally disruptive, costly, and logistically complex. When all of those factors are considered together, building on that site is neither fiscally responsible nor in the best
009interest of students. So, we thought about placing a new preka building adjacent to the high school, which would allow us to be strategic, efficient, and innovative. And it directly reflects what we often hear from voters. This high school is a beautiful building. It was built for more students than it currently houses. We have opportunities to utilize some of the uh open areas here, some of the larger spaces, and potentially some classes here for our students. If we do this, it allows us to utilize the high school spaces more effectively, share services and reduce duplication, save money on operational and support costs, reduce our total roof area, which lowers long-term maintenance expenses, and create opportunities for students to collaborate across all grade levels. We also allow younger students to experience opportunities in a high level learning
010environment with their peers and expand access to specialized spaces without replicating them. This isn't really about building more. It's about using what we already have and using it better. We also had an idea uh in addition to the academic spaces in our building. So, we asked Armen Miller, our prebond architect, to design a new athletic complex near the fields as part of a future vision. This concept would include new tour fields, a digital scoreboard, a dedicated visitor locker room since currently our visiting teams have to use the middle school boys locker room, an appropriately sized space for our athletic trainer who currently works out of what is essentially a closet, team rooms for film review, meetings, and preparation, and a top floor all glass community space overlooking the field that could be used for community
011meetings run by alumni utilized for events and gatherings. It's an exciting vision and one that reflects pride in our programs in our community. However, it's important to be clear we do not feel comfortable including this athletic complex in the current bond request. Because of that, we plan to explore this athletic complex through private donors, corporate sponsors, naming right opportunities, community and alumni partnerships. Tonight, you'll see the proposed design, and if you know of companies, organizations, alumni, or individuals who may be interested in learning more about this opportunity, I encourage you to have them reach out to me directly. Since first hiring Miller as our pre-bond architect, we have been intentional about doing this work the right way. The pre-bond architect is engaged before a question of money ever goes to voters. Their role is to
012help the district define needs, study options, and determine realistic costs so the community understands what they are being asked to support. This is different from a postbond architect who would be hired after a bond passes to design within a fixed dollar amount already approved by voters. Since we've uh signed on with Governor Miller, we've met weekly with our administrative team and the executive cabinet to work through a program of space, also called a program of requirements. Simply put, when we meet, this asks, "What do we need in this building to run our educational programs at the highest level? It includes instructional spaces, support services, safety, accessibility, collaborative areas, and operational needs, not extras, but essentials. We engage deeply in this work because we believe it is our responsibility to determine as accurately as possible the
013true cost of completing this project successfully. We have heard clearly and repeatedly that the community does not want us to build to a number of the high school project nearly 27 years ago. In 2019, the district did not complete appropriate requirements prior to placing the bond issue before voters. As a result, there's appro approximately a 25,000 square foot difference between the 2019 proposal and what you are seeing today. That difference reflects clarity, not expansion. I have spoken with other superintendents who did not complete a V first. After their bond issue passed, they began this work and realized the cost was significantly higher than anticipated. Those districts are now being forced to eliminate programs or reduce critical spaces to fit the amount voters approved. I do not want that. have independence. Tonight is not about final
014answers. It is about listening. You're going to see the site layout and the work that has been done so far. And so we ask you to be our sounding board. Share your questions and concerns. Engage with us by attending future community meetings. Email us with any questions or concerns. Visit our website for our facilities page. Uh be engaged, be active, and ask questions. We want to share information with you, plan with you, dream with you, and work together to make this vision a reality. It is really an exciting time to be a Blue Devil on a powerful opportunity to continue cultivating a legacy of excellence for generations to come. So, I felt like it was important to kind of explain why, but then I also wanted to just quickly run through what we're proposing. So,
015we had Carmen Miller put together a presentation. Um, and for those who are listening to this, watching this, this presentation will be linked also, so you can listen to this and be looking at the presentation. Um, so Car Miller is the team that we hired for our pre-bond. Uh, they are not the postbond architect. After the levy passes, uh, the bond issue passes, sorry. Once the bond passes, then we will be looking for our postbond architect, Garmin Miller would need to apply again with whoever else was interested. and then the board would make a decision on who would be our postbond architect. Uh these are some of the school districts that they have currently uh in the last few year years built projects. Uh I asked them to focus on their prek6 or prek8 building
016since that is the building we're looking at. Uh one of the interesting ones is Norwok City Schools. Uh they hadn't been able to pass a bond issue in a while. They hired Garmin Miller. Garmin Miller worked uh with their executive team in the district. They passed that um overwhelmingly and they are now starting their program of requirements um and moving forward with their design. Uh Shelby City Schools is another one um that is a really cool if you want to go and look at their district. They have some renderings of their buildings along with tip city schools. Uh they have companies I think they said in Chicago, Indiana, um Michigan here. Um they do a lot in the kind of the southern Ohio by Toledo past there. Um however, they are in the process right
017now of uh having one of their offices here in Independence. They're looking at um leasing some space on Pleasant Valley Road. Uh that was one of the reasons too when we learned that about the company. We didn't know that beforehand, but after we hired them and they shared that they wanted to lease space here, uh we know that this bond or this pre-bond architect, they want to see us be successful. They want us they want us to have a flagship building here in Independence that they can send people to look at. So, it's a motivation for them. So, we're kind of we're really glad that they're going to be here in in Independence. These are their guiding principles. So far, we've seen them um, you know, being accurate, checking things before they go through and
018and give things to us. They're very transparent. They don't have any predetermined outcomes. They have been very reflective and allowed us to kind of share what our vision is and what we want. Uh, we the master plan, you know, we've shared this, this was from last year with APG, that was another architect firm that we had brought in to do an assessment on our buildings. And you see the primary school and the middle school. The total for renovation costs um in 2024 was 62 million793,000. Um the problem with the renovation is that's the number that you kind of see for renovation. But if anybody's ever renovated your house or watched any of those shows, that 62 million um could possibly be more once they start taking down some walls and find things that then they
019might have to um actually think they were going to have to update, but then we'll have to. So, I always give renovation as a little bit of a scary number because you're never sure if it's going to be more than that, but it was a 62 million 63 million cost. Uh so that was what it was going to cost if we wanted to renovate. So we hired Dr. Miller on. We they met with our staff on a professional development day. We went through what some of the top priorities were for the staff. We had them work through a protocol and for them it was um flexible, functional learning spaces. Um and what they meant was within the classroom, think of the traditional, you know, 30 desks in a row, you know, can we have tables
020where students can work? Can we use different types of learning spaces within the classroom? Um have areas where students can sit and read their books. Um, looking at more space within the classroom, they wanted future ready infrastructure. Um, so when we talk about future ready, air conditioning, um, water that doesn't leak from the ceiling, um, those kinds of things, safety, security, and wellness, um, both of our buildings, the primary and middle school, you walk directly into the building and not of escu, that's a concern. Community collaboration, and then storage support and specialized spaces. We also um had an activity not specifically about building, but we asked students voice about just their learning in general in school. And you see here that students talked about they like collaborative learning. Um they're more engaged. They like things
021that are hands-on and interactive. Um they like more opportunities to connect across grade levels with their peers. Um they value leadership opportunities and recognition. and they also agreed that they need calm, safe spaces, especially during transitions as they're going from building to building. We also had an independence task force meeting where we had about 37 38 people who were invited from throughout the community to provide some feedback. This was one of the um questions that they asked. Um, and so it was a whle where you ask what three words really describe the community and you put it in and the words that are used multiple times, you know, are larger than the rest of the words. You see, pride, community, legacy, supportive, opportunity, we're a family, close-knit, it's a small district. Um, and we know
022that and that's valued a little bit of what we want to do moving forward. Um they also had task force priorities and um I would say that the one that obviously the the the ones down here and it goes in order. These are the most important to the task force committee members and it was adapt to future needs. So thinking about if we do increase our enrollment, how do we adapt to that? Um looking at the cost, cost is always a a priority for people. Sustainability. Um the middle school use of high school basis. That was a priority. They felt like that is something we should be looking at and making sure that we're doing that. Um, athletic upgrades. And then at the very top, you see some other um things. So, this is just
023an example of what currently the site layout of our building is of our of our campus. Sorry, this is independence. The high school's right here. You have the field right here. Current middle school is here. We based upon what I said earlier about building down here where the current middle school is and that not being something that we would want to to do, we looked at this. We have two soccer fields right here. So, we looked at this site right here. From there, once we kind of decided upon the site, we then um this is kind of Yeah. Then we went and we said, "Well, we really want an elementary building and we want a middle school building and maybe some shared space, but we really want two separate buildings where students are separated." Uh,
024and we looked and we said like, if we have this, where would we put our soccer fields? Will we tear down the middle school once we move? Then we would put our soccer fields here. We talked a little bit about traffic. Reminder that our middle school and high school currently are on this campus and start at the same time and end at the same time. Our primary school starts an hour later than the high school and the middle school and ends an hour later. So the traffic is not all three of those schools starting at the same time. We wanted to have our buses come around the back. They'll come around the bus drop off and then drop for the middle school, drop for the elementary school. Currently in primary school, we have a a
025drop off pickup specifically for our prek. Um and so we wanted a little drive right here where you could drop your younger students off. This would be the entrance way in to drop your students at the elementary school and at the middle school. You see there's an additional little roundabout here, so it makes the traffic flow a little bit uh nicer. We move some staff and student parking over to here where the current middle school is to allow for additional parking spots. Then we kind of got down to this design where we have different wings. So this is our prek cake wing. This is our kind of first and second grade wing. There will be a second floor above that and that would be our three through five wing. And then you have your separate
026entrance for elementary. Your offices are over here. Separate entrance for your middle school offices are over here. And then you have your gym space, cafeteria. We have some science rooms here. The idea is that this design here would look a lot like our high school with the stone and the brick and it would look really nice when you pull up here. There's huge glass atrium kind of above our cafeteria for natural light and also on the STEM classrooms. So, as you come up here, this is kind of like the building that you see. Um, with that, we kept some parking over here. This is an actual um closed there's classrooms down here and a closed walkway into the media center currently of the high school where students can go back and forth for classes to
027use shared space like the gyms the cafeteria the fieldhouse come here for classes currently we have some middle school students who walk over with their teacher Mr. afford to use the uh the rooms over here for his class, but it would be great for us to be able to have those teachers be able to share their spaces. We also wanted to make sure that with parking, we had more parking than we currently do at both the primary school, middle school, and high school. So, we've increased that parking by 300 spaces. So, I think that will help with some of those activities that we have. Um, one thing that came up today in a conversation with the city and so we're going to talk to government about this and this is the beauty of when you're
028designing like this I said it's not a final project last night I didn't say like we're moving forward with all of this one of the conversations that came up is if you're having a big event at the fieldhouse and there's not parking here and there's not parking here and you have to park anywhere over here there's no way to get through to the fieldhouse you'd have to either walk all the way down here and around and up or you have to come back here and that's not really a walkway way back there. So, one thing we talked about with this cut through, you know, with our hallway, is there a way to maybe put a glass door that could be opened on those events where you could just cut through this? Um, so there could
029be doors on either side that would be locked, but if you're using an event like you would just be able to close off each side of that and then have people use that as a cut through. Um, and we were like, that's a great idea. We weren't thinking that if you park down here, you can't get through here. how you get to the fieldhouse without going through the whole building. Um, so we'll talk a little bit about some designs that we might be able to uh show you to to provide that. Um, you also see down here in the corner, you'll see the existing auditorium and the two soccer fields. The one thing we asked Armen Miller to do was give us the cost. Um, if you demolish all of the middle school except for
030the existing auditorium and you were able to put up a temporary wall in there, uh, we talked to them a little bit about mothballing it, which basically means they would have to bring in gas, electric, and water, which thankfully are right on this side of the auditorium because currently the auditorium has all of those utilities coming from this side of the building. So, if you take that building down, you then need to do something with the utilities. We would put the utilities in there and it would be keep the heat on in there so in the winter you don't have any freezing pipes or anything or anything being damaged in there. And our goal would be between now and whenever this happens to see if there is someone who would want to use this space
031whether it was a youth theater or a program wants to come in or somebody wants to rent that from us or the city decides that they want to do something with it. So right now our plan is to keep that auditorium. Um and maybe we use it, maybe we lease it to someone, maybe it's a joint thing. We wanted to leave our options open. So we're going to keep that. I spoke a little bit about that um idea of an athletic kind of complex down entrance into our field where the current one is. It would kind of be this um split and in the middle you have a a pergola where there's seating by your concession stand. You have a glass second floor room. Um, you have an entrance right in here. We're talking about
032a legacy pathway where you would have bricks coming up with family's names. So, we're looking at naming rights and people would want to sponsor that. Um, and so that would be right down here. Just a bigger view of that. We talked about the existing auditorium and bigger picture of that. So the timeline and pacing people have asked when we passed in May uh in 2026 when will the building be open and ready for use? You would design as soon as that ballot passes you would go June 26 to June 27th. Construction would be April 2027 to May of 2029. Um so again you're kind of looking at a 29 would be your finish date. It's always nice if you can have your finish date be at the end of the year versus in the middle
033of the year because becomes an issue with trying to move people over in the middle of the year. This would then give us an opportunity to have time for teachers to prepare over the summer. So then students would just enter the next in September of 20. Uh once the board passes the resolution, which will be this evening, communication and engagement will continue. We have a press release that's going to go out with this. We're starting to work on dates. Um I have probably 30 dates of different events that I'll be attending. coffee chats at Sweet Peas. Um we have all kinds of things that we're going to be doing to get people out and have conversations with them. And then also we have a volunteer levy committee, the I5 PAC. Soon as that happens and
034we pass the resolution, they are going to go mobilize and start asking for volunteers. Um they'll be working with Garmin as well. Ultimately, the goal of the district is to have factual information on our site to make sure the facts are there. The goal of the pack is that then they'll go out, take those sites and they're allowed to then advocate for the passing of the bond issue. All right. And now going to take over and talk about financing options. >> I assume this works. >> Okay. So just a review of where we are financially now and in the future as all this is one big picture. So in a big strategic vision that visioning process we did tied this act to it was very important because we knew we needed to address facilities. We
035know we need to operate. We know to be innovative and bring good programming. So all that requires financial resources and we need to mobilize and plan ahead for so we have inside village which is um one of our main funding sources and then continuing levies. Then we're looking at a bond issue for the May 26 ballot as we know which is why we're here this evening. Then we have our permanent improvement levy that's going to need to be renewed. It is a 25 mil levy and it generates $750,000 a year. We passed that in 2021 for five years. So you'll see the last collection will be in calendar year 27 and the earliest we can renew is November of 26. So next November would be the first time we can approach voters and community to
036renew that. That's really important. We're going to talk a little bit about the difference between permanent improvement money and bond money in a second, but um I just want to be very open and transparent that that will need to be renewed to continue to address the facility needs in the high school, the acreage. We have the administrative center, the bus garage area. So, we have other areas to maintain besides just the three educational buildings. And then we have our high school bond that we're almost complete with. We were able to reduce the millage from 2.2 to 1.1 and eventually to zero. And we're going to pay that off in 2027, which is our first opportunity to pay it off. Once we pay that off, that will help bring some burden relief of property taxes to
037our community. Um, and obviously, as soon as you can renew or ref, excuse me, refinance or refund bonds, you want to do that to save as much interest as you can for your community and your district. So, that is a really positive thing to be able to say that we were fiscally responsible. We're able to pay that off three years early. Then the emergency levy, that is another um operating levy for us. Recently in the state legislature, they removed the ability to renew emergency levies or place them on. So with this particular one, we're fortunate that we get to go to 234 for collection on this and um we'll have to address our operating needs at that point. That's $4.2 million. So there's a significant amount of money per district that we will have to
038have a plan in place to replace with. So um and then the to be determined is because obviously um just like your homes everything increases on us, right? Our supplies, our gas, our electric, our utilities, salary benefits, everything will continue to increase with inflation as your homes. So um unfortunately the way school finance is designed it is designed a levy cycle is designed to have funds u banked in the beginning of it in a bell curve and then you start deficit spending on the end where you're spending more than you're bringing in because that is the nature of a levy unfortunately a levy cycle. So, we're going to be heading to the end of a levy cycle. Need to address operating money at the same time strategically. Then the financing options available for a construction
039project such as a prek8 building. You can do a bond or approve earn an improvement levy. Both are property tax levies that require voter approval. One mill in our district generates $62,000 as of today. Um that will probably tick up just a little bit in the new year. And then there's a school district income tax levy available to schools that also requires voter approval. And then lastly, you can self-fund, but to self-fund a project like this means we'd have $59.5 million in the bank, which we do not have. So, uh, that leaves us two options, bond or school district income tax. to clarify the difference between a permanent improvement and bond. For a reminder for everyone, permanent improvement funds are for capital improvements that are capital purchases in your district. So, it's stated with specific
040millillage as I mentioned 1.25. We had a fiveyear that's coming to an end that will need to be renewed. And what we do with that is we buy buses, we do building edit, well, we could do building additions. We have not done that with that money. Buses, building systems. If anyone ever has walked into this high school's HVAC and mechanical room, it is very complex. It is floor to ceiling. So, um, it takes quite a bit of money. $750,000 seems like a large large number. But when you talk about the acreage and buildings and square footage that we're maintaining, it goes by very, very quickly. We also use it for technology and infrastructure of technology. So, it goes very quickly. And TJ will attest every time he asks us for something, I'm like, "Well, where
041can we budget for that? How will we plan for it?" So, uh, that's permanent improvement. The bond, which we're comfortable with in our district knowing what that is since we have one on and are currently paying for it in our high school. It's where we we sought voter approval. We have bonds. We construct the facility. So, district sells bonds with maturity of 1 to 37 years. So, that means the length. So, this works just like a home mortgage. You need to figure out how much you need to borrow, how long do you want to pay it back and what is the interest rate of the current economy and then we would collect property taxes based on that millillage over time and repay the bonds back. There is a cost of issuance just like a closing
042cost in your home mortgage. So uh in our closing cost issuance so to speak that would be interest underwriting municipal advising uh rating agents insurance and all that is embedded into the bond itself. So bond tax dollars are used to pay the district's annual debt. Again think of it as your home mortgage. So it's our school's mortgage. I mentioned already that bond millillage is an estimate based on your property value, your interest rate, uh your credit rating, how many years you want to go and how much money you need to borrow. Millage, which is a complicated um uh philosophy or thought process here. It's one10enth of a cent or 01. It's applied to assessed or taxable value, not market value. So that's 35% of market value. So in just a simple example, if your home's
043market value is a h 100,000, your taxable value would be 35,000. So millage is applied to the taxable value. One mil would be $35 a year. A school district income tax is a new thought um to northeast Ohio. Super prevalent in central and middle and middle and southern Ohio's southern Ohio. Um, and there's 222 school districts on the books with the Ohio Department of Taxation with the school district income tax. So, it's not a new concept. It's just newer to Northeast Ohio. There are a few in Lorraine, Wayne, and Madina County. So, it's all around us, but hasn't quite hit Kyle County yet. And you would use a school district income tax for general operating funds for a very specific period of time. They can be continuing. However, we will be looking for a very
044finite period of time with that. It only applies to residents. It does not apply to people that work in work in the district but do not live in the district. And the rates have to be 0.25 or quarter% increment statutoily required. So, you can't do a 0.875. It has to be a one, a 75, a 0.5, 0.25, etc. You have two incomes you can tax on a school district income tax. Taxable for all income which is called traditional income or taxable on earned income. And the earned income excludes pensions, capital gains, uh dividends, interest. So it is a little bit more appealing to not affect people who have pensions and are living on annuities and retirement dollars. And then as we continue to look at that, so essentially we have three ways to do this
045if we can pursue this project. We can do a bond only, we can do a school district income tax only, or we can do a combined issue of the two together. And if we were to do a bond levy only, it would be a 5.87 millillage bond issue for 59,500,000. 30 years, 5% it would generate approximately $3.5 million annually. And an estimate on a 100,000 appraised value would be $27 per year on a 100,000 appraised value. And that would be $6,210 on three years for that $100,000 appraised value property. On a $300,000 home, it would be $621 per year annually or $18,630 over the course of 30 years. So, in a bond situation, a property owner is going to pay this for 30 years. So, I just moved in. I'm paying it for 30 years.
046If I've lived here for a while, I'm still paying it for 30 years. a school district income tax. Um, on a 1% school district income tax in 30 years, 5% because again, this is going to work just like a debt service schedule, it would generate approximately $3.3 million annually. And on a $100,000 weighted earned income, it would be $1,000. If we divide that by 26 pays, it's 38.46 a pay. And to clarify, you're not coming up with the $1,000 for 30 years at once, right? Like, this is coming out of a paycheck every month like a normal payroll deduction. So, it is not handing over a check to anyone at one specific period of time for a large amount. Also, since it is a payroll deduction and then it's income tax, you're the department of
047taxation actually collects it and then sends it to us in quarterly payments. So, um when you look at it as a per pay basis, it makes a little bit more sense because you can relate it to a payroll deduction and it's also for us we're looking at as a very finite period of time depending on where you are in your life cycle. So if you are towards the end of your career working you won't pay for 30 years on that. Right? If you're going to retire before the end of the 30 years you will not pay earned income tax the entire time. So, um, as soon as you retire or quit working and quit getting W2 income, it will come off. And this this particular scenario, 1% would lead the district in a shortage of
048$526,796 per year. Again, that's per year. So, annually, that the district would need to use permanent improvement funds or general funds to cover that. And recall I said we only get $750,000 of permanent improvement. So that would leave a huge deficit annually to manage our PI needs of the high school and the um non-new buildings. So anything other than the prek. So, in a combined issue, we're trying to alleviate some of the burdens that these various ones, there's pros and cons to each option I just gave. And we're trying to um provide relief and capitalize on some of the pros of both of them and trying to minimize the cons of both of them because, as Kelly mentioned earlier, whenever you go for a bond issue, it is a divisive and it's a talk in
049the town, right? So, we're trying to make sure we're doing the best thorough um due diligence we can to see and the best projections and what the community will tolerate the most because we know we're asking for a sacrifice to support our children and the programming that we bring to them every day. So, on $59.5 million project, if you look, this column is bond village only and we we started at 0.25 and went to 2.25 5 and then on a school district income tax that's this column we start at one and go to 75 then the shortage or surplus to the district that is um what the district in red is what the district would need to come up with between PI and general operating black would be in excess of revenue then the cost
050to the homeowner or the earned income earner and the homeowner only but what what I was trying to capture here are just various scenarios to see where's the launching point, what makes sense. I'd also like to say we've been doing this for several meetings in a row and a couple of familiar faces are in the room who can attest to that. We've been doing it for even longer than that just trying to get through various scenarios because you can do these all day and all night and still not come up with the perfect one. So, we looked at what are qualifiers like what what are negotiables versus non-negotiables, if you will. And what we said is as as a board we said no more than two mills. We didn't want to see more than 1%
051income tax and we did not want to see a surplus coming to the district on this. So those were our three kind of guiding principles to see how do you start eliminating all the various scenarios that can be here. And in this chart the strikeouts are the ones that did not meet those criterias. The ones in yellow still met those three criteras. So on a 0.5 bond and a 1% school district income tax that left a shortage to the district of 200 or a deficit is how I would say it more to the district of $21,539 to make up with our PI and general funds combined. On this particular scenario, it would cost a homeowner and $100,000 earning income earner 1750 per year and only 1750 of of only owning a home at that $100,000
052mark. Then 75 bond and a 1% income tax. That would leave a deficit of 38,911. And that would cost 1,026 to the homeowner and earner and 2625 annually to a homeowner with $100,000 value. Doing the same thing on the bottom here, a 1.75 bond mill and a 75% school district income tax would leave a 232,160 deficit to the district to make up for the 1.9 and the 75 would leave right around 100,000 at 102057. And that would cost the homeowner and the earned income person at $815.50 50 cents and 6650 to milk. The 2 mil and the 75 would generate a deficit of 69,532 cost homeowner or 820 and homeowner only for 70. So, a couple things about these things that we were discussed last evening is that once you come into this $200,000 annual
053deficit, that becomes really hard to maintain out of PI because as we mentioned, taking 750 subtracting off 200, you're down to five 550,000 or half a million. And that is is can be challenging. A roof is over a million dollars, right? You can make roofs and patches, but then you're still chasing water because when water's leaking, you're chasing the water. That's what we always talk about, chasing the water leak. So, it becomes really hard to annually cover that deficit um over a 30-year period. So, um I want to reiterate that because that was something we discussed last evening. And those are our options on the table that were discussed, which is how we came to the 75 bond and the % school district income tax. And at this time, we can take any more questions
054or discussions that needed to to heard with that. Do any of the members want to speak towards one that we're leaning towards? I know it's a special meeting, but do we want to open it up because these are people that have been here and I just think it's important. Um, I know this is a special meeting and we don't typically do public participation, but I just think regarding, you know, the topic of this, I think it's important for people to share where they're coming from and their views and you guys are invested because we've seen so I don't know. >> Yeah, I'm fine with that. >> Yeah, it's on. All right, great. Let me pull up my notes really quick. >> You're fine. >> State your name, please. >> Yes. >> Thomas Star, member of
055the independence community. I have two sons in school, and I'm looking forward to this discussion. Um, thank you for your time, transparency, and seriousness you brought to this process. I know this is a difficult decision with long-term consequences, and I want to be clear from the start. I support our schools and this district regardless of which option you choose. I'm here to share why I believe 75% school district income tax paired with the two mill similar evolution uh is the stronger starting point when we look beyond year one and think about fairness, stability and flexibility over time. Under the current projections a 1% SEIT The 75 mills places about 88% of the funding burden on earners. By comparison, a 75% sit with two mills places closer to 65%. With the remainder shared through property and
056taxes that difference matters. It reflects a broader sense of shared responsibility while still keeping millage reasonable. Another key issue is how SDS revenue grows over time. Unlike millage, which is relatively fixed, income tax revenue naturally increases as wages and earnings rise. Even modest growth changes the math quickly. For example, under a 1% SEIT, a 1% annual income growth rate would effectively offset the remaining school middle share in roughly three years. under a 3% growth scenario that effect could be done in the first year. Now, I want to be very clear. We cannot and should not assume assume consistent growth every year. But this illustrates why making a long-term structural decision based on a single year snapshot can be misleading. Because SDI revenue compounds starting at a lower SDIT rate with slightly higher millage provides flexibility.
057As SDIT revenue grows, the district has the option to reduce millage over time. Easing pressure on property owners. That flexibility exists with a 75 SEID and 2 MS or similar. If we begin instead with a 1% SEIC and only 75 ms, there is very little room to adjust millage. Millage is already near the floor and future SEI growth cannot be used to meaningfully rebalance the tax structure. Once that structure is in place, the district has far fewer tools available. This decision isn't about choosing winners or losers. It's about selecting a structure that works not just for today but across multiple years and under a range of economic conditions. A 75 paired with two mills provides balance, stability and the ability to grow reasonably as revenue grows. I appreciate the thoughtful way this board has handled
058these discussions and I thank you for considering not only the immediate numbers but the long-term health of the district and the community it serves. Thank you for your time and your service. >> A question for you. >> Can you explain how the ability to reduce Uh so important to note is that you going forward with 1% of 75 mills you cannot increase that SDAT right we can't take it above 1% but we always have the ability to lower it over time should we see the collections on income tax rising too fast or too much you can roll that back or reduce that if you wish you can do the same with millage because we're currently doing that in our high school bond. So those two options are definitely on the table to do that. We
059fully recognize there could be a time once once the income tax is rolling and the mill is going that there is a time where maybe our income is too much of what we would like and we have options. We can put some towards operating and try to extend any kind of 2034 levy should that be an option of the board or pleasure of the board. And you can also then reduce either one of those at that time too. um for bond mill you have to wait till it's called so there is a little bit of a delay there before you can go and roll back you could roll back before you could refinance disabled interest so there are definitely options to think about with that and the other part about it is the opposite could
060be true too right you could see a a decrease if there was some kind of economic downturn of significance in 30 years the hard part about this is looking out 30 years and trying to capture everything that may or may not happen in 30 years because today. Uh earlier we were kind of reminiscing like what CO was like to today and that's only been a six-year window. So it it's extremely hard to predict what might happen in 30 years time. I have a hard enough time doing a fiveyear forecast. This is a 30-year forecast really. And it's very difficult to predict what may not happen. >> So >> yes, you did. Thank you. It is easier. Is that accurate? It is easier to reduce the millillage than it is to go from the 075 I
061mean sorry not the 075 whatever um 75 millillage and 1% than what Tom is proposing. Is it easier to do it this way? >> Can you cl I'm sorry. So just to reduce the millillage o over time he's saying is easier than to the sd because the sd new rooms. So is it easier to start at the two percent right? So she she's saying movement within like to start at the two then you can come back and go well everybody didn't pass it now we're going to drop it down. Right? If we do the 1% and then you you know what I'm saying like the million change around that we're talking about like being able to do that easier. I will tell you that regardless of what's easier or not my only concern is we
062need to pass it right and so the goal is to try to make it where the effect on those who can't afford it truly those you have the least amount of money. It has to be something that's going to be where they see it and they're like, "This was amazing. Like, this was great." So, if it's not close enough to that, the concern is is then it's not you're not really then why don't we just do the bond issue? I mean, instead of the SDI, like the reason we're doing this is to offset that. So, I think if we were just like, hey, maybe if we just do the bond issue, people will come out and vote for it and those who can't won't and maybe it'll win. But we did that before and we
063found who wasn't voting and we heard what they were saying. So, and we know what the voters are as far as the makeup of ages. I shouldn't say voters found registered. We know that the population within independence has 2,800 out of the 7,500 who are above that age of 60. So my my only concern is if you start to play around with that, you got to look at because the houses aren't 100,000. We know that like we know that the average property is 300,000 or more. Um and so you really are looking at what is that amount versus if you were just going with straight bond and like well I save 300 bucks if you go with a higher bond village. You just have to be because we're trying to sell it on this and
064if you're like well you're saving a little bit of money. I just don't know. You have to just because otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose to me like why don't you just go with them and hope that the people who are supporting the schools come out in full force and >> I just want to be careful that I don't know what the I think to adjust from one to 75 income tax since we don't have one. I can't really speak confidently to that, but I would presume it works statutoily just like taxation. >> What do you think, Tony? Um just to you know echo what I said yesterday and with respect to Tom I understand what he's saying in regards to it's a very valid argument it's not rooted in you know fiction it's
065it's very valid but when you mention the words fairness and maybe investment you know communitywide investment I think my counterargument to that would be it's already happening Because the one slide that Jen had up there with all of the levies that we have right now, we have six levies right now that everybody is painting on soon to be five, right? Soon to be five cuz this is going to fall off within the next uh year. But so I would say like I think that's already happening right now. I'm not looking at it in the context of the new building. per se. I'm looking at it in the context of all of the revenue streams that are coming in right now. So that's why I'm looking at it maybe a little bit differently than than what
066you had as although what you say is not wrong. Um so I just feel like just from a marketing standpoint and also just from a okay, we're going to take 2.2 mills off your property tax docket and then we're going to put it right back on like I don't know if that can get confusing and whatnot. I just don't want to muddy the waters when it comes to that. I think the 1% number is an easy number for any household to calculate out. Um, and I I just going back to what I said originally, I I do think it's right. You know, I mean, we need that extra 75 bond mill. And I think that does throw all the community, you know, as far as a shared responsibility goes, as far as that is concerned.
067And um also just kind of keeping an eye on the future, you know, in terms of what is coming down the pike in Columbus. I I I do think a year from now, we might be having some very serious conversations about, you know, maybe we were right going ahead with this SDIT or income tax. um getting ahead of the curve on this because I I would not be surprised at all if property taxes or large significant number of property taxes just go go away legislatively. So, um that's just, you know, where I'm at. I I don't like the deficit, so I want to keep that as low as possible. Um just reiterating what I said yesterday, we still do have a lot of needs, especially at this building. Um, I'm proud of the fact that
068we got the cost down from the original sticker shock price that Kelly had alluded to of 65 million. So, um, we're sacrificing size, but we're not going to sacrifice quality. I think that's the main lesson we learned from this building. So, that's where I'm at. You know, I slept on it. I'm still at the 75 and the 1% uh bracket there. So, um, I I do realize the uphill battle we're going to have in messaging. We're going to have to be very concise and uh with our messaging and we're going to have to be fluent in in what this is and how it's going to look going forward. Um but you know, we have a little bit of runway to to uh to get there. So I'm not I'm not you know while it is
069it's not a mountain we can't climb in my opinion. So that's just pretty much where I'm at. >> Does anybody else Hi children. I just have a clarification question I guess for um it's in regards to treasure and Tony if you could please elaborate. Okay. So we're setting us ourselves up for the future because It may eliminate the property taxes according to their schools. However, I just want to clarify because yesterday something was said that traditional virtually earned income tax that it's mostly US yesterday earned income tax, school district income taxes that you see. But there's actually so based on the January 2025 data, 614 districts in Ohio, 210 districts have a traditional SEI and only 64 districts have an earned income. So I just this is based on the Ohio Department of Taxation for
0702025. So I just want to make sure we're setting ourselves up in the correct way because How do you turn around then? And so if we're going towards this model, then people on fixed incomes wouldn't have to pay towards the schools anymore if we're only doing it for I just like education because that's my worry. And since it was said yesterday that most were adopting and earned, I just want to clarify if you could for us please. Yeah, the earned ones are the ones that are coming on now. There's the ones coming on to validate past. So, I guess I I can clarify that in future communications and policy. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. Because right now, it's just it's not worth seeing like up to this point. So, I just wanted to clarify.
071Thank you so much. And I would also just add on to that and please forgive me because I'm you know new to learning about this and even though you know I do work in finance it's school finance is a whole other thing. So just just learning it with Jen and um it is more prevalent in more rural areas. It's kind of like why is that that the income tax now the the one where it encompasses more of their earnings such as retirement and all of that. Well, that now that kind of makes sense why people or I'm sorry, why school districts go more towards the traditional route with that because they have to cast a wider net when they're taking on that uh that income tax if they decide to go that route. you know,
072I'm really speaking off the cuff. I just think the benefit of where we live now is that we do have a lot of high earners in this in this community. So, that enables us to strengthen that a little bit and not have to go, you know, for those uh that are on fixed incomes, retirements, pensions, whatever you want to call it. So, I, you know, without actually looking at the numbers, just kind of conceptually thinking through it. That's why, as you alluded to, the districts that are doing the 200 plus in the state of Ohio are you are doing the traditional because they have to. Um maybe not necessarily because they want to, but when we when we got the numbers from the Ohio Department of Taxation, it was like, well, we could do it
073that way, but we could still do it with a short with a smaller net and do it that way because just of the demographics of our community. Anybody else? Okay. Um so we are we already did our motions and um we will call RO um we will be doing the 75 mill and 1% STI >> call please >> Mr. Aila >> yes >> Mr. Yes. >> Mrs. Motion return please. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes, >> this is last year. This is >> Yes. >> So, I did look it up because that's a good point that Jen made. So, um it does state in here which would explain it. Previously, the only SDIT you could use was the traditional. There wasn't the option for earned. earn just became available recently, which would explain why
074if those districts had 30-year SDIs on them, they were the traditional versus the opportunity to go earned. So, that would explain maybe why. So, I'm going to look at that. I think that's a good question of the 210 minus the 64, the 140, when did they get when did they put their SDI? When did they pass it? Because I bet it was before there was even the option to just do the earned, which explain why most districts more recently are using earned versus the traditional. But thanks for bringing that up because I did not know that. We just know from researching and most people are using the earned that we've talked to that we know of said that I was like, "Huh, that's interesting." And I just want to say thank you everybody for coming.
075Thank you for being invested. Thank you for caring. Um, these decisions are not easy for us. We've been thinking about them for a long time and we appreciate you. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good evening.