ANDERSON — Alexandria Community Schools has submitted enough signatures from property owners to place a $19.3 million referendum on the May 8 primary ballot.
The Madison County Election Board received petitions with the signatures of 299 property owners from the school board, giving the referendum tentative approval to appear on the ballot.
The Anderson Community Schools are still in the process of securing the 500 signatures of property owners needed to place a referendum on the primary ballot.
The school district is seeking approval to issue $41 million in bonds to upgrade facilities and a $1.8 million bond to cover operating expenses.
Tim Smith, interim superintendent for ACS, said the goal is to submit the petitions with the required 500 signatures to the Madison County Clerk’s office on Friday.
“I’m hoping the Election Board can meet next week to approve the process and submit to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance,” he said.
Melissa Briscoe, superintendent of Alexandria Community Schools, said submitting the petitions is an important step.
“That allows us to put the question on the ballot,” she said. “We’re very excited that we’ve done our part and followed our timeline.”
Briscoe said a sample referendum question has been submitted to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, which has 10 days to approve it.
“The Election Board has given preliminary approval and one more meeting is required to finalize the process,” she said.
The process for both referendums must be completed by Feb. 21.
The next step for Alexandria is submitting to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance the minutes of the Election Board meeting, and a certificate of the signatures by Madison County Auditor Rick Gardner for final approval.
The Alexandria Community Schools Board of Trustees voted to move forward with a May 8 bond referendum by unanimously approving three resolutions.
The vote followed a 1028 hearing, one of two hearings required by state law on projects exceeding $1 million. The district’s $19.3 million plan includes repairs at the high school and building space at the intermediate school so all elementary students would be transferred there.
Though the district prepared lower-cost options, officials hope residents approve a plan that would add a wing at the intermediate school to accommodate students in kindergarten through second grade. The plan also would include some renovations at the intermediate school and an auxiliary gym and additional classrooms at the high school.
District projections estimate the tax rate would be about 50 cents per $100 of assessed property value. That means a property with a value of $90,400 would have an assessed value of $26,500, putting the cost at about $11.05 per month.
About $11.2 million of the proposed referendum is earmarked for the construction of a kindergarten through second-grade wing at the intermediate school. That would allow the current elementary building to be closed.