$76 Million Renovations, Good or Bad Idea?
Sign about the survey sent out to district homeowners, located in between the North Campus gyms
According to lakecountrynow.com, $76 million is the estimate for improvements to be done at Arrowhead High School. Those living in the Arrowhead district were sent a survey. The survey is eight pages long, and consists of the potential renovations. The school board will use the survey to decide if a referendum will be held in November.
There are two parts to the survey. Part one includes the base plan, which consists of necessary renovations. The estimate base plan cost is $45 million. Part two is other upgrades and expansions. The cost for the additional upgrades totals about $31 million.
Mia Rocco, a senior at Arrowhead said, “I think that’s too much money to be spent at one time, especially if the tax payers are the ones that are going to be paying for the renovations. And I think a lot of the renovations aren’t necessary and can wait until they really need to be improved. I think it would be more practical if the school had more funds to pay for the renovations. I think building a bigger theatre is beneficial, but since we already have a working pool, they should maybe save that.”
According to lakecountrynews.com, the surveyors will be asked to respond yes or no for each of the potential renovations.
“You have combined your needs that you feel are the most pressing into the base plan–that I think is clearly communicated,” Eppstein Uhen Architects public outreach specialist Kit Dailey said. “Then you’re saying we also want to know how you feel about these additional elements.”
If the renovations go through, taxpayers in the Arrowhead High School district would have an increase of $53 additional, per $100,000 their house is worth added to their taxes.
According to the comments on Lake Country News, @north2south commented, “Arrowhead’s project list totals $76 million; community to be surveyed about potential referendum. If i did my math right that is 92$ per 100k of home value if all those proposed items get approved. If most houses in the Hartland region cost between 250-450K that is almost 250$-450$ per year tacked onto your property taxes. That’ll be a hard bill to sell to property owners who already have high taxes up there. Those locker rooms will be a thorn in that school districts side for decades to come.”
Taylor Stoll, a senior at Arrowhead said, “I don’t think that Arrowhead needs a new swimming pool, but yeah it would be nice if we did have a new one. It’s hard to decide as well if all of the renovations are worth the money to be spent. I guess if people who live in the district are will to pay higher taxes, then the renovations would be a good idea.”
