Canton City Schools places levy for new elementary schools on May election ballot

Kelli Weir, The Repository
·2 min read

CANTON – Voters in the Canton City School District will be asked in May to approve a 4.3-mill bond issue to build two elementary schools and change how the district of nearly 8,000 students educates its youngest pupils.

The Canton City school board on Wednesday approved placing the 36-year, $60 million bond issue levy on the May 2 election ballot. The vote was the final step in the two-step process.

On Jan. 4, the board asked the county auditor to determine the amount needed for the tax issue so it would raise $60 million. The auditor responded with the 4.3-mill calculation, which was based on a 5% estimated interest rate.

If approved, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $151 a year. That is $19 more a year than the $132 that homeowners currently pay a year for a 4.3-mill bond issue that voters approved in 1999.

That 1999 bond issue will expire at the end of 2023.

If the proposed bond issue passes, the $60 million generated will help build two new elementary schools that could be ready to use as soon as the 2026-2027 school year. A nearly 90,000-square-foot elementary school would be built at Souers at 2800 13th St. SW, and a nearly 75,000-square-foot elementary school would be built at Mason at 316 30th St. NW. The existing schools at both sites would be demolished.

The Canton City School District plans to seek a $60 million bond issue that would fund the construction of two elementary schools, including a new building on the former Souers Middle School property at 2800 13th St. SW. The existing Souers school would be demolished. This architectural rendering shows the possible placement of the building on the site. Details of how the school could look would be developed later.

The two new elementary schools would allow the district to convert eight of its elementary buildings into schools serving students from kindergarten to sixth grade and discontinue the use of five schools and other district buildings.

The project is estimated to cost $61 million.

Superintendent Jeff Talbert said the district continues to seek ways it can pay for the more than $1 million that would not be funded by the $60 million levy.

He has said the district opted to only seek $60 million because it did not want the district's debt to go higher than 9% of the district’s property tax value.

Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @kweirREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton City school board places $60M bond issue on May election ballot