Cayuse gym vote ends on Tuesday

Elections aren't over for voters in the Cayuse Prairie School District.

Voters there have a few more days to decide whether to approve a $1.95 million bond issue to build a new gymnasium and performing arts center at the school.

The district mailed ballots to its registered voters Oct. 20. All ballots must be returned to the district office by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Some taxpayers have said building a new gym is an unnecessary expense, especially in this economy. But bond supporters say a new gym is long overdue at Cayuse Prairie.

The existing gym space is inadequate and unsafe, school officials say. They describe Christmas programs performed in shifts because there isn't room for the students, their parents and community members in the audience.

Even with two performances, not everyone can fit in the gym, leaving some audience members craning to see from the foyer.

The gym is inconvenient and unsafe for athletics as well, according to school officials.

There is little room outside the boundaries of the basketball court, so spectators can't help sitting with their legs on the court, which poses a hazard to players and referees running past.

Principal Rick Nadeau told the Inter Lake in September that Cayuse Prairie has been talking about building a new gym at least since he joined the staff 19 years ago. The district was moved to act this fall after it qualified for a grant that would reduce the interest that taxpayers pay on bonds.

The Qualified School Construction Bond grant, one-time-only stimulus money available through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, would save the district almost $1.2 million in interest on the bonds over 15 years. The grant provides 0 to 1 percent interest on the bonds.

If voters approve the bond request, annual property taxes on a home with a taxable market value of $100,000 would increase by about $54. Taxes on a house with a $200,000 taxable value would go up by about $107 a year.

Those taxes would build a 7,818-square-foot gym and performing arts center, which would be available for community use. Bond money also would be used to build restrooms in the lower elementary hallway and additional parking around the new gym.

Any leftover money would be used to build classrooms in preparation for future development in the district.

This is the first bond election Cayuse Prairie has run since 1994, when voters approved a $525,000 request to build the school's north wing, which now houses the upper elementary classrooms.

That bill has since been repaid, and the school is debt-free with a bonding capacity of a little more than $3 million.

If voters approve the bond issue, the district would open the project for bid in early 2010 and probably break ground at the end of the school year, Nadeau said. Construction likely would take about a year.

For further information about the bond request, call the school at 756-4560.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com