Fair-Mont-Egan bond vote ends on Tuesday

Those who haven’t yet cast their votes in Fair-Mont-Egan School’s bond election have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return their signed ballots to the district office.

That’s when election judges will start counting ballots, a process community members are welcome to watch, district clerk Susan Clanton said.

The district’s 720 active voters all received ballots. More than half of them had already returned their ballots with days to go before the election, Clanton said.

A simple majority will determine whether Fair-Mont-Egan’s $1.9 million bond request passes.

The election has brought out strong sentiments on both sides of the issue. Some voters maintain that the money bond sales would bring in would allow the district to create much-needed space.

If the bond issue passes, Fair-Mont-Egan School will get a new gym, administrative offices connecting the school’s two buildings and at least two new classrooms. The library and computer lab will be expanded, special education and Title I students will get tutoring rooms, the school will get a band and music room, and teachers can stop storing items in the hallway.

Bond opponents say that taxpayers are already overburdened and cannot bear additional payments now.

If the bond issue passes, annual property taxes on a home with a $100,000 taxable value would increase by about $92. Property taxes would increase by about $184 a year on a home with a taxable market value of $200,000.

Some voters also have expressed frustration about possibly shouldering the tax burden for out-of-district families who send their children to Fair-Mont-Egan. About 38 percent of children at the school do not live in the district.

To address that concern, trustees chose a building plan close to the bonding capacity of Fair-Mont-Egan’s in-district families. The district’s full bonding capacity is $2.6 million.

School board members debated the pros and cons of running a bond election in this economy before voting unanimously in January to ask voters to approve the issue. One of the deciding factors was the Qualified School Construction Bond grant Fair-Mont-Egan School received.

The federal grant provides zero to very low interest on bonds and reduces the length of the term. Instead of making annual payments on the bonds to a bank, the payments will be held by the Flathead County treasurer and invested at the board’s discretion.

The entire bond amount is repaid at the end of the term.

The investment yield will be used to lower taxpayers’ burden; school officials estimate that by the final year of the bonds — probably 15 to 17 years from now — the annual property tax contribution to the bonds’ repayment would be cut in half.

Cayuse Prairie was awarded a similar grant in 2009, which helped persuade voters in November to approve the district’s $1.95 million bond request to build a new gym.

For further information about Fair-Mont-Egan’s bond request, call Clanton at 755-2038.

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