Voters are one step closer to deciding whether one of Petersburg’s school roofs will be replaced. That’s after the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously on Monday to put a proposition on this fall’s ballot to let voters decide whether to fund school upgrades.
The money would cover two projects. One is a new roof for the middle and high school building. Robyn Taylor is the superintendent of the Petersburg School District.
“Ultimately, the work has to be done regardless,” she said. “It has got to be done or else we could be at risk of losing the building itself in future years.”
The roof was built in the 1950s and is patchworked together after decades of repairs and renovations. It’s been leaking for years, and damage from recent heavy snow and ice made the problem worse.
The cost of replacing the roof wouldn’t be covered by residents alone. The state will pay $4,272,898 – roughly two-thirds of the project – after Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the state capital budget without vetoing the appropriation. The school district hopes to fund the remaining $1,495,514 through a bond – meaning residents would pay for it through property taxes over the next couple of decades.
The proposed $3.5 million dollar bond also includes money to improve security at the middle and high schools, estimated at $1.4 million. Last fall two separate threats of violence were made against the schools by students. Soon after, school officials said they were looking at security upgrades. Taylor said the upgrades would include security doors that automatically lock, and a redesigned office layout that would let staff see people approaching the front doors.
“We’re put in a precarious situation if we’re not able to get our doors upgraded, and the high school offices upgraded for specific safety,” she said. “We’re just more at risk, but the bond will allow us to have a more secure and safe building.”
Normally, only residents living within Petersburg’s Service Area 1 pay for bonds with their property taxes. But Borough residents living outside of town also pay property taxes that go to education because the state mandates that a whole borough fund a school district. Since this bond would be funding a school capital project, everyone within the borough would get to vote on the proposition in the fall. If the bond passes, it will be repaid by all property owners within the borough.
It’s easy for property owners to figure out how much the bond would cost them each year. The borough’s finance director, Jody Tow, explained.
“It’s estimated to be about $62 for every $100,000 of assessed value,” she said. “So you’d be paying $62 of taxes for every $100,000 of assessment that your property is worth.”
Petersburg’s Borough Assembly will take their third and final vote on the matter on August 5.
