Officials Plead for Referendum Approval

HOMER TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS

November 4, 2007

By Duaa Eldeib SUN-TIMES NEWS GROUP

HOMER TOWNSHIP -- A sluggish housing market isn't slowing down kindergarten through fourth-grade growth in Homer School District, where kindergarten enrollment is at a record high.

Two elementary schools are beyond capacity, and the third is nearly there, Superintendent Bill Young said.

"We simply don't have classroom space," he said.

That is why board members agreed to ask voters for $36.4 million in February in a referendum. The money would finance a new elementary school and improve and rebuild portions of existing schools.

When the district asked for a nearly identical bond issue last April, it was narrowly defeated by 102 votes, Young said.

The biggest difference this year is about $4 million, which reflects inflation and rising building costs.

"That increase even surprised us," said Young, who added the longer the voters wait to approve the project, the more it will cost.

But instead of using $6.4 million from the district's general fund, the school board now plans to use $10.6 million.

This will bring down the amount they'll need to borrow for the project to $25.7 million.

"Whatever the maximum amount that we contribute to these projects, it just makes sense," board vice president Tim Rutter said. "It's not our money. It's the taxpayers' money."

And as a Homer Glen taxpayer, Rutter said the referendum is the right answer.

"There's nothing frivolous about it," he said. "We're spending the money wisely. We're only asking for what we really need."

For a home with an assessed value of $300,000, residents are looking at an average tax increase of $101.77 per year during the life of the bond.

With the southern extension of Interstate 355 opening this month, Young is convinced growth in the district is imminent.

"We believe more people are going to find us, probably like what they see and move here," Young said.

The project calls for a 600-student kindergarten through fourth-grade school on Parker Road. Also, the district plans to repair, remodel and rebuild Schilling School, some sections of which date back to the 1950s. Finally, the district will add four classrooms and remodel an existing one at Butler School.

The district is joining a long list of taxing bodies turning to residents in Homer Glen and the surrounding area to approve referendum proposals, mostly because of the community's fast-paced growth.

"That's tough," Young said. "When I go home, I'm a citizen, too. There's just not another choice."