ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Residents of Adams Township School District will decide on two proposals on the Aug. 6 Primary Election ballot.

The first is a request for 1 mill ($1 per $1,000.00 of taxable value), for 20 years (from 2024 through 2044 inclusive) for improvements, repair, and maintenance of public roads in the township. Improvements would include paving of gravel roads, rehabilitation of gravel roads, repaving of paved roads and chip sealing of paved roads. If this millage is approved and levied in December of 2024, the estimated amount of revenue that would be collected in the first year would be approximately $68,064.76.

Also, the Adams Township School District is requesting an extension of the current millage rate to generate $5.9 million to fund projects that, as Superintendent Tim Keteri said, address infrastructure needs. These will include:

• erecting, furnishing, and equipping additions to school buildings;

• partially remodeling, furnishing and refurnishing, and equipping and re-equipping school buildings;

• acquiring and installing instructional technology and instructional technology equipment for school buildings;

• relocating a greenhouse structure; and preparing, developing and improving sites.

The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2025, under current law, is 3.45 mills ($3.45 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation), for a -0- mills net increase over the prior year’s levy. The maximum number of years the bonds may be outstanding, exclusive of any refunding, is twenty-one (21) years. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to be required to retire this bond debt is 5.51 mills ($5.51 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation).

“The ballot is requesting to extend our current millage rate for the next six years, no increase in property taxes,” Keteri said in July 26, 2024, letter. “Since the district is in repayment mode of participating in the School Bond Loan fund, which allows schools to fund various projects, the district felt this would be (an) opportune time to address the various projects mentioned.”

The school district does not expect to borrow from the state to pay debt service on the bonds, the proposal states. The total amount of qualified bonds currently outstanding is $5,905,000. The total amount of qualified loans currently outstanding is approximately $1,898,705. The additional estimated interest to be paid on the qualified loans that is attributable to the bonds is $634,762. The estimated computed millage rate may change based on changes in certain circumstances.

“For clarity,” Keteri said in his letter, “over the next years, the current millage would be reduced without this extension, the district is requesting to keep the millage rate the same.”

(Pursuant to State law, expenditure of bond proceeds must be audited and the proceeds cannot be used for repair or maintenance costs, teacher, administrator or employee salaries, or other operating expenses.)