Moses Lake bond committee gives options to board

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake School Board members will choose between two options for a construction bond, if they choose to offer a bond. Volunteers on a committee appointed to examine the options for a possible bond couldn't decide and voted to send both options to the board at their final meeting Tuesday.

The first option would build a second high school, with a 1,600-student capacity, and upgrade Moses Lake High School. The second option would include the 1,600-student high school, the MLHS upgrades and a new elementary school.

Mark Johnson, the district's director of business and operations, went through some of the anticipated costs of both options.

Building a new high school for 1,600 students would cost an estimated $70.8 million, Johnson said. That's the construction cost only; Johnson estimated the cost of supplies, furniture and related expenses at about $26.9 million. Site preparation would be about $3 million, he said.

Upgrades and modernization at MLHS would cost about $10 million, Johnson said. The district is eligible for an estimated $8.9 million from the state construction assistance fund.

An elementary school would cost about $18 million, Johnson said. Currently the district is not eligible for state construction assistance for an elementary school, he said, and district residents would pay the entire cost.

A bond for a 1,600-student high school would cost property owners somewhere between $1.46 and $1.56 per $1,000 of assessed property value, Johnson said, depending on when and how the bonds were sold.

The bond payback would be in addition to the existing maintenance and operations levy and previous construction bonds. That estimate doesn't include any money for modernizing MLHS or building a new elementary school, he said.

District superintendent Michelle Price asked committee members for their recommendation. The consensus was that community voters might support building a new high school and modernizing MLHS, but they wouldn't support building a new elementary school.

One group dissented from that view, Moses Lake Mayor Dick Deane arguing the elementary schools are near capacity and the additional $18 million would have a relatively small impact on the overall cost.

After a discussion, committee members voted to present both options to the school board and let them decide. Price asked if the committee would support either option chosen by the board, and a majority said they would.