August 9, 2016
Hello Everyone,
First of all……THANK YOU to everyone who supported our zero mill increase. I think
the overwhelming majority with which it passed spoke volumes about our community
and the support it has for the students of Bear Lake School. Once again, on behalf of
the Board, the administration, the staff, and the students……THANK YOU!
The main reason for this letter is to update you on where we are with our efforts in
regard to the millage. If you will recall, the majority of the money generated is going to
be used to fix our roof. The Board of Education had hoped that we could move forward
with the roof and have it completed prior to school starting this fall. Unfortunately for us,
this is a very busy summer for many contractors. Therefore, our fear was that if we went
out for bids yet this summer, any company that bid, would probably put a high dollar
amount on it. That would mean paying more than we really wanted to in order to get the
job done. In addition, our general contractor reached out to several commercial roofers
to see if they would have the time to get to our project. Each one said they could not. As
a result, the smart thing for us to do is to wait until January or February to put our
project out for bids. The feeling is that we will get more competitive bids. Obviously,
more bids means a better chance for us to stretch our dollars even further. Therefore,
the community of Bear Lake can expect to see our roof being repaired sometime during
the summer of 2017.
The next biggest expense that our millage targeted was technology. Our plan was to
purchase smart projectors for our teachers and also to purchase our next round of
1 to 1 computers. The projectors are ordered and will be installed prior to this fall.
However, we are holding off on purchasing the new laptops. The reason for doing so is
that our current devices are all still very new. The plan is to wait 2 more years, and then
update the devices as they get closer to the end of their “practical” life span.
The last item that was requested in the millage was a new school bus. We are trying to
be very mindful of how we spend the community’s hard earned dollars. As we look at
our current bus fleet, we are quite confident that we can get 2 more years out of our
oldest bus in use, without having much in the way of maintenance costs. Therefore, it
seems most appropriate to wait another 2 years before we replace our oldest bus. That
would mean that our 3 regular “route” or line haul buses would be less than 6 years old
at that time. We would be in pretty good shape for quite a few years to come.
You may have already noticed a theme. The majority of the money will not be spent for
another year or two. However, please rest assured that the money is sitting in very safe,
no risk accounts. But by delaying much of what we will be purchasing with the money,
some people might rightfully be wondering why we went for the zero mill increase when
we did.
The reason we asked voters for the zero mill increase this year was largely a result of
the timing of the refunding of our current bonds. They were refunded last year at a lower
rate. As a result, our advisors felt like the best time for the zero mill increase was now.
The increase of the millage would be completely offset by the refunding of the bonds.
Plus, the advisors felt like now was a good time in regards to interest rates as well.
Finally, please rest assured that the money will be used for what it was intended. It is
illegal to use this money for anything other than what was indicated on the ballot. We
also have to go through an audit process that shows how and where the money was
spent to make sure we are in compliance. I think this is very important for our
community to understand.
Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. My
door is always open! I would be more than happy to sit down and discuss those
concerns.
Respectfully,
Marlen Cordes
Proud Superintendent of Bear Lake Schools