FRequently Asked Questions

What is a bond?

• In the same way homeowners borrow money in the form of a mortgage to finance the purchase of a home, a school district borrows money in the form of bonds to finance the design, construction, expansion and renovation of facilities.

What is a bond election?

• School districts are required by law to ask their local voters for permission to sell bonds. A school board calls a bond election, and the voters decide whether or not they want to issue bonds (debt) for identified purposes.

What can bonds fund?

• Bond funds can be used to pay for new buildings, additions and renovations to existing facilities and purchasing land and equipment for new and existing buildings. Bond funds CANNOT be used for personnel or operating costs.

How are bonds repaid?

• Bonds are repaid with local tax dollars.

Why are we not negotiating for interest rates and price like we would a car?

It says on the district website that taxpayers 65 and over will not have their taxes raised, but I have been told that is not accurate. How can I find out what is correct?

• The information below is directly from the Comptroller's FAQ’s

  • What is a residence homestead tax ceiling?

  • It is a limit on the amount of taxes you must pay on your residence. If you qualify your residence homestead for an age 65 or older or disabled person residence homestead exemption for school district taxes, the school district taxes on that residence homestead cannot increase as long as you own and live in that home. The tax ceiling is the amount you pay in the year that you qualified for the age 65 or older or disabled person exemption. The school district taxes on your residence homestead may go below but not above the ceiling amount. If you improve the residence homestead (other than normal  epairs or maintenance), the tax ceiling may go higher because of the new additions. For example, if you add on a garage or game room to the house after you  have established a tax ceiling, the ceiling will be adjusted to a higher level to reflect the value of that addition.

  • TAX CODE

    • Sec. 11.26.  LIMITATION OF SCHOOL TAX ON HOMESTEADS OF ELDERLY OR DISABLED.  (a)  The tax officials shall appraise the property to which this section applies and calculate taxes as on other property, but if the tax so calculated exceeds the limitation imposed by this section, the tax imposed is the amount of the tax as limited by this section, except as otherwise provided by this section.  A school district may not increase the total annual amount of ad valorem tax it imposes on the residence homestead of an individual 65 years of age or older or on the residence homestead of an individual who is disabled, as defined by Section 11.13, above the amount of the tax it imposed in the first tax year in which the individual qualified that residence homestead for the applicable exemption provided by Section 11.13(c) for an individual who is 65 years of age or older or is disabled.  If the individual qualified that residence homestead for the exemption after the beginning of that first year and the residence homestead remains eligible for the same exemption for the next year, and if the school district taxes imposed on the residence homestead in the next year are less than the amount of taxes imposed in that first year, a school district may not subsequently increase the total annual amount of ad valorem taxes it imposes on the residence homestead above the amount it imposed in the year immediately following the first year for which the individual qualified that residence homestead for the same exemption, except as provided by Subsection (b).

I have seen that there is a New Administration Building for 3,200 sf at a cost of $1,088,000 included in the budget for the bond, is that for Central Office?

• No, this is for offices at the Elementary school, to include the counselors, principals, SRO, Special Education and other related support offices.

How will the contractor for the construction be chosen if the bond were to pass?

• The state provides five different methods to hire a contractor and put the items out to bid. (See PowerPoint) It is ultimately the Boards decision what model that they would decide to go with. The architect’s recommendation would probably be the CMAR model as this provides a guaranteed price, a Construction Manager and a Guaranteed Maximum Price.

• Full Presentation available HERE

How much was spent on Repairs and maintenance over the past years?

• The following projects that are not general maintenance were completed over the past 3 years:

  • AC repairs $147,600

  • Sewer Related Issues $75,500

  • Drainage Issues Pit Area $37,950

  • New Gutters and Roof Repair $304,000

  • LED Lighting $470,766

  • Resurfacing Track $90,000

  • New Playground(prep work) $90,000

  • Elementary Gym Entrance $12,000

  • Football/Baseball lighting $15,400

• Big ticket items for this year

  • AC repairs $26,000

  • Flood Issues $176,000

  • Handicap Repair $11,340

  • New Gym floor repair $5,000

  • Baseball lights $5,000

• Total repair items over budgeted amounts for past 3 years $1,466,556

• This is in addition to our regularly budgeted funds of approximately $800,000/ year that includes staff. Staffing is a little over $200K which includes maintenance and custodial.

How long will the project take?

• From the time building starts approximately 2 years to 2.5 years.  The overall timeline, depending on when the architects’ plans were approved by the board and the bond sales finalized would be between 2.5 to 3.5 years. 

Where will the JH Science Lab be?

• It will be added to the current Library remodel in the Junior High.

How will Safety and security be handled during the building process?

• We will require background checks for all workers for any subcontractor and we will have areas that will be off limits to students and staff and others that will be off limits to contractors.   We will work and coordinate with contractors to ensure student safety.

Did we account for inflation?

• The architect did account for inflation in the estimates of between 4 and 10% but costs will be based on bids.

Are bids going to be open to all of the state or local only?

• Bids will be taken from anyone who bids both locally and across the state. 

How much smaller will the new library media Center be than the current library?

• The current library is 7500 sf but a great deal of that square footage is for hallways around the building, book storage room and other resource areas that new libraries will not require.

• The proposed library is 2800, while it is smaller than the current library it will be bigger than the equivalent of 3 classrooms.

Why don’t we just sell some of our busses to replace our current busses?

• We are looking to auction off or sell 3 of our older busses.  However, due to age, mileage and condition of the busses we would be lucky to receive $10,000/bus, based on estimates and offers we have currently seen from other districts.  We have applied for a grant to purchase two electric route busses that would be provided by a Federal Government Grant Program.  The cost of a new gas-powered bus is between $125,000 to $150,000

Did the committee or board examine renovation as opposed to new?

• We did, and there were times where the renovation expense would have been about the same or more than building new.

Where will kids be housed during construction?

• During phase 1 the Junior High and Elementary students will remain in their current rooms. In phase 2 the Elementary and Junior High will be in their new facilities with the High School students in the previous Elementary and Junior High facilities.

What is the square footage of the offices?

• This is undetermined at the moment, but most definitely not 500 square feet.

What renovations will take place on the Elementary and Junior High Gym?

• The Elementary will have the metal flashing on the outside replaced as it is rusting and the floor on the inside of the gym will also be fixed where it is cracking.    If money is available from the budgeted amounts, then there may be additional cosmetic changes and possible upgrade fo AC units.

• The Junior High Gym will have the current locker rooms removed due to plumbing issues.  The Art room or old woodshop on the back of the building will be renovated into new locker facilities.    If money budgeted for the gym is available then the bleachers would be addressed, as well as other cosmetic changes and a possible AC upgrade. 

What will be done to the auditorium?

• There are two-line items in the bond for the auditorium.

  • The lighting system will be replaced and updated.

  • There is right at $1 million in the budget to do maintenance of the auditorium which would include upgrading of the sound system, paint, flooring and possible seating replacement. 

What happens if the price of the projects go over $24 million? 

• If the bids come in over $24 million then we would go down our list of priorities and do those first. 

  • The Elementary and Junior Highs would be addressed first.

  • The High School and Band Hall would be addressed. 

  • Locker room renovation in the old MS gym

  • Elementary Gym repairs 

  • Busses and Water Well repairs

  • New Furniture

  • Auditorium lighting system

  • Auditorium Maintenance 

  • Other JH Gym Repairs

• I heard that we will not have a Library if the Bond passes, is that correct?

  • No, there is a new planned media center/Library in the building plans. The New Media Center will be 2,800sf.

• Why are you renovating the current Library and building a new media Center?

  • This was proposed due to cost and space savings. Currently there is a large hallway that takes

  • up a great deal of space. It would be a cost savings to renovate that space into JH classroom

  • space and build an updated Media Center in the new Elementary wing.

• What happens if the Paper Mill were to shut down?

  • The paper mill taxable value is made up of a few items. The land value, assets such as the building, production value, and any inventory. Should the business cease to exist it result in a lower taxable valuation that its current form. The owner will still owe taxes on the property and assets, however.

  • If the total taxable value falls low enough that the ratio of taxable value vs. ADA = to less than  400,000 per student, Evadale would become eligible for state aid to help towards payment of the annual debt service up to $0.29 of tax effort.

  • The school would leavy and I&S tax high enough to generate enough income to make their annual bond payment even if the tax rate breaks above 50 cents.

• In the case that taxable values dropped, how would Evadale become eligible for state aid and how much would we get?

  • Example for Determining EDA State Aid and Local Share

    • Example ISD has:

      • PTAD prior year property value of $100,000,000

      • ADA of 1,000

      • annual debt service payments of $100,000

      • Example ISD's EDA state aid and EDA local share are calculated as follows:

      • 1) Taxable property value = $100,000,000 property value ÷ $100 assessed valuation = $1,000,000

      • 2) Tax yield per penny of existing debt tax rate = $1,000,000 taxable property value x 0.01 =$10,000

      • 3) Tax yield per penny per student = $10,000 ÷ 1,000 ADA = $10.00 local revenue

      • 4) State aid per penny = $40.00 guaranteed yield – $10.00 local revenue = $30.00 state aid

      • 5) Percentage debt service assistance paid as state aid = ($30 ÷ $40) x 1 = 75%

      • 6) Amount of EDA state assistance = $100,000 annual debt service x 75% state share = $75,000

      • 7) Amount of EDA local share* = $100,000 annual debt service – $75,000 state share = $25,000

      • * A district may not allocate the same collections as its local share for both the IFA program and the EDA program.