COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Seven weeks from tomorrow, November 7, will be a big date for the future of the Coldwater Community Schools, as voters will decide the fate of a bond issue.
Coldwater School Superintendent Terry Boguth has begun making public presentations on the proposal including speaking to local service clubs. It’s a $30 million bond for 1.45 mills for 30 years. If approved, it would fund a new school to replace Lakeland Elementary, which is nearly 60 years old, and pay for improvements across all buildings in the district.
Boguth says the improving economy in the Coldwater area would be a plus for taxpayers should the bond issue pass. She says with the taxable value increasing right now in the community with the Clemens pork production facility as well as new housing, as the taxable value goes up, the millage rate goes down.
Boguth told the Coldwater Noon Rotary Club at their August 29, 2017 meeting that the millage is based on a 1.3% growth in taxable value which is very conservative and she believes the growth should be much better than that. She also said the levy is based on paying almost 5% in interest on the bonds and the rate should be lower than that.
Boguth explained they basically use the worst case scenario on their projections because they want it to come in better for the taxpayers than what they were told about the bond issue, rather than have it go in the opposite direction.
