{"id":18441,"date":"2022-08-10T02:29:13","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T02:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=18441"},"modified":"2022-08-09T20:01:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T20:01:16","slug":"smoke-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/smoke-signals\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoke Signals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aug. 30 school levy vote seeks to upgrade 60 failing BCSD-facility issues, \u2018no new toys\u2019<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n

At 8 p.m. on the last day of this year\u2019s first month, smoke and 500-degree heat from a failing HVAC unit of the Wood River Middle School gym signaled something very clearly to school district leadership\u2014how it was time to put out a metaphorical fire to hopefully prevent something worse, like a real one some day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so old the fail safe didn\u2019t even work,\u201d said Jim Foudy, superintendent of the Blaine County School District. \u201cIt happened to be on a night when the school volleyball team was having a practice. If it had happened three hours later, it would have been flames.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The HVAC unit at the gym was one of 60 high-priority items (pared down from 100) on a facilities improvement list that a third party generated for the district already last year. Since messaging and timing matters when it comes to elections\u2014especially ones that require 55% voter approval during a housing crisis, amid record inflation, and on the heels of Valley voters rejecting multiple fire district funding initiatives across the last two elections\u2014school board trustees opted to hold the levy vote Aug. 30 rather than back in May. In terms of short-term safety and costs, the trustees\u2019 decision held some risk. In terms of ballot measure success, the trustees\u2019 decision now hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n

No New Toys<\/b><\/p>\n

Specifically, an approved levy would finance $25 million of safety and efficiency upgrades to BCSD facilities. Taxpayers would be charged an additional $34.90 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. And, given a few different variables, such as the new housing starts not yet on the county tax roll, Foudy said the $34.90 amount is an overestimate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can guarantee it will be less than $34.90,\u201d said Foudy.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one message district leaders could make most clear it\u2019d be the idea that the 60 items on the list are not \u2018shiny new toys.\u2019 Rather, the items are like the middle school gym\u2019s HVAC\u2014equipment that is, in some cases at least, old and failing and should have been replaced already. This is not a bond or levy aimed at putting a new football turf under kids\u2019 feet but rather a repaired roof over students\u2019 heads.<\/p>\n

During a roughly 45-minute interview between Foudy and Wood River Weekly<\/i>, the superintendent noted how a failed roof or a fire to an HVAC system at one end of the district is not necessarily constrained to just that end of the district. If one section of one campus is ever shut down, it could mean an impact Valleywide. Students would have to be distributed across campuses, as would human and other resources that operate the local schools.<\/p>\n

Lessons Learned<\/b><\/p>\n

Foudy, a self-described \u2018fiscal conservative,\u2019 is in just his second year as superintendent. Yet, he finds himself in the midst of, perhaps, the first reason he was selected for the job. Trustees made no secret of the fact that Foudy led a successful bond effort at his former McCall-Donnelly School District where the high school and elementary school shared one 1950s building. He pared down the bond from $60 million to $25 million while still meeting capacity goals and got it to pass. By just six votes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just know you have a (facilities) problem, you have to communicate it,\u201d Foudy said. \u201cAnd you have to make sure it\u2019s measurable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foudy said when he looks at potential levies and bonds\u2014tax increases to district property owners\u2014he asks himself two basic questions first: Who is it helping? Who is it hurting?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a math problem,\u201d Foudy said. \u201cWe think about people on fixed incomes. We look at projects (like converting to LED lighting) that actually save money and, over time, pay for themselves. I\u2019d rather spend some money now rather than more money later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whole Lotta Levy Info<\/b><\/p>\n

Election<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022<\/p>\n

Voters may cast their ballots at their usual polling locations.<\/p>\n

For voting information: www.co.blaine.id.us\/196\/Elections<\/p>\n

For absentee and early voting, please visit VoteIdaho.gov.<\/p>\n

Details<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

55% voter approval required<\/p>\n

If approved, the levy would provide the district with a total of $25 million to fund safety improvements and key maintenance projects.<\/p>\n

5-year, non-recurring levy expiring at the end of the 2026-27 school year<\/p>\n

Maximum $34.90 per $100,000 of property value<\/p>\n

Tools<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Improvement Project Spreadsheet: Tinyurl.com\/BCSDlevy<\/p>\n

Levy Calculator: BlaineSchools.org\/domain\/1406<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aug. 30 school levy vote seeks to upgrade 60 failing BCSD-facility issues, \u2018no new toys\u2019 By Eric Valentine At 8 p.m. on the last day of this year\u2019s first month, smoke and 500-degree heat from a failing HVAC unit of the Wood River Middle School gym signaled something very clearly to school district leadership\u2014how it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,72,74,75,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blaine-county","8":"category-community","9":"category-education","10":"category-elections","11":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18462,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18441\/revisions\/18462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}