MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI – Voters in Fruitport Charter Township will decide on the fate of an $82 million school bond on the May 6 election ballot.
Fruitport Community Schools wants to use the requested bond funds to make a number of improvements to the district such as constructing a new elementary school and soccer field.
School leaders say supporting the bond would not result in a highter millage rate, emphasizing there would be no increase to the current 6.9 mills that the district levies from residents each year to pay down debt.
A resident that has a home with $100,000 taxable value pays $690 annually under the current millage, officials say.
This new bond proposal would levy those taxpayer funds as a credit for the school district to borrow money for the proposed improvements.
“If voters say ‘yes,’ this becomes a 30-year bond project that, over those 30 years, we would use that 6.9 mills to pay off the money that we would be authorized to borrow to build the projects in the bond proposal,” Fruitport Community Schools Superintendent Jason Kennedy said.
The bond would fund the following projects:
- Construction of a new Edgewood Elementary School
- Renovation of the old Edgewood Elementary into an Early Childhood Center
- Updates and renovations to Beach Elementary, Shettler Elementary and Fruitport Middle schools
- Improvements to barrier-free school playgrounds
- Construction of a soccer field at Edgewood Elementary
- Purchase of new transportation vehicles and school buses
With the elementary school as the first priority, residents would not see ground break on any construction for at least a year. It would take between two and three years to complete the school, Kennedy said.
If the bond proposal does not pass, Kennedy said the school board will “go back to the drawing board” to address the infrastructure and facility needs.
The bonds would be sold in a three-part series: May 2025, spring 2027 and spring 2029. District leaders said selling bonds in series reduces interest costs.
The approach also allows the district to take advantage of future bond payments to sell new bonds to hold the overall debt millage at 6.9 mills.
“As the taxable value in the school district continues to increase, with additional businesses and growth that’s happening in the community, that … allows us to generate more money,” Kennedy said.
He said the only way a resident’s taxes would increase is if their property value increases, but said “that has nothing to do with the millage itself.”
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