The Manitowoc Public School District has taken its first step toward making improvements at several schools.
The school board approved borrowing $14 million last night as part of the $25 million referendum passed by voters last November.
The district is doing the borrowing in two parts and went through the Baird Financial Service to help them.
Barid representative Michel Clark explained that borrowing anything under $15 million allows the district to pay off the debt over three years.
“If you issue above $15 million, you only get two years to spend the money,” he noted to the board. “So then there’s a potential to paying on how much you earned and other things to monitor. But, in general, if you would earn above a certain level, you would have to rebate some of that to the IRS, for the government.”
Board Member Chris Able had some concerns about the interest the district will have to pay back.
He says that the $14 million could mean $10 million in interest for the district while it would be smaller in the second borrow.
Board President “Biff” Hansen agreed but also said that the district was working on saving programs while not focusing on building issues.
“And that’s catching up on us now and so, hopefully your right and rates will come down, but look, we either start fixing things or we going to have to spend more money to build buildings,” Hansen stated, “It’s not something that’s going to come cheap.”
Clark says that the district is also aiding the district this year, which could offset the interest rates.
The $14 million will go toward addressing critical facilities maintenance, safety, security and building infrastructure needs.
Some summer projects could include a new roof for Lincoln High School, fire alarm upgrades, and HVAC replacement.
The district will borrow another $11 million in April next year.
