ANNA — Anna Local Schools is in the process of deciding on the best way to go about improving their facilities.
The Facility Planning Committee, along with Fanning and Howey have been working together and have narrowed it down to five options.
At a community meeting held Tuesday night, they presented those options and got feedback from the audience.
The options are as follows:
• Pay as you go. They would use their existing permanent improvement levy, as long as it is renewed in November by voters. This option would just allow them to do repairs to the schools as needed and a bigger project would require them to save up the money generated from the levy each year. About $180,000 is what is currently being generated from this levy each year.
• New permanent improvement levy. This would be a new 7.0-mill levy that would need to be passed. For a $100,000 home, it would be about $245 a year. This levy would be for 10 to 12 years and would raise enough money that more significant improvements could be made to the facilities.
• Complete OSFC Master Plan. This would be a plan where a new 3.8-mill levy would be required, about $130 a year for a $100,000 home, for 30 years. The total cost of this project would be about $17.8 million and the portion of state funding would be $9.1 million. This would basically update the high school/junior high and elementary school to a like-new condition.
• Segmented OSFC Master Plan. This would be a plan where a new 3.5-mill levy would be required, about $123 a year for a $100,000 home, for 30 years. The total cost of this project would be about $15.3 million and the portion of state funding given would be about $7.3 million. This would include updating the high school only and bringing it to a like-new condition.
• A new 6-12 building. This would be a plan where a new 8.7-mill levy would be required, about $306 a year for a $100,000 home, for 30 years. The total cost of this project would be about $31.5 million, and the portion of state funding would be capped at $9.1 million. It would be a building of the exact same square feet that they currently have, but wouldn’t include things like the extra gym space and auditorium. To pay for those they’d have to launch locally funded initiatives.
After all the plans were presented and questions were answered, those in attendance had a chance to vote on which plan they would like to see done.
A majority of the audience disagreed with being in support of every plan except the Complete OSFC Master Plan. This plan had a significant percentage of people in favor of it.
The next steps will be for the Facilities Planning Committee to meet in two weeks and decide on which plan to present to the Anna Board of Education. It should be decided by the end of October which plan the board wants to move forward with.
The presentation from May’s community meeting is currently posted on Anna Local Schools website and the presentation from Tuesday night’s meeting will be posted in the next couple of days.
