STARKVILLE — In an effort to be prepared for future projects, the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District board approved a resolution of intent Thursday to borrow up to $87 million in bonds for improving or building school facilities.
Superintendent Tony McGee said after the special-call meeting facilities studies over the next year will determine the district’s specific facility needs as well as estimated costs.
“We’re going to look at everything from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade then decide moving forward what we’ll do,” McGee told The Dispatch. “We’ll look at everything from safety and security to facilities. … The district wanted to make sure that we had the most flexibility possible as we start to assess the physical needs of the high school campus and facility. We haven’t locked ourself into any specific course of action or committed to issue any specific amount of bonds.”
SOCSD Director of Communications Haley Montgomery told The Dispatch in an email that the district can borrow up to 20% of the total assessed value of all taxable property within the district, which is $501,994,682 — meaning the limit would be roughly $100 million at any given time.
“The $87 million listed in the board resolution is the approximate maximum amount after netting out our current bond debt the district can take on and not exceed that limit,” Montgomery said.
SOCSD currently has $19,425,000 in outstanding bond debt, per the resolution.
Montgomery said the district is looking at beginning facility studies 90 to 120 days, targeting the possibility of January to have a finalized bond package and begin the approval process.
Board member Sumner Davis said the district is taking the first measures to get set up to pay for improvements while capitalizing on the law that officially consolidated the Starkville School District and Oktibbeha County School District in 2015.
The law states SOCSD can “issue negotiable bonds in one or more series” to improve the district’s facilities and equipment through upgrades or creating new facilities. The law is for a period that began July 1, 2015 and ends July 1, 2024.
“The district is now at a place where we are ready for it and don’t want to miss the opportunity before the … sunset date listed in the legislation,” Montgomery said. “Since 2015, the district has worked through a number of priorities — the mechanics of consolidating, building Partnership (Middle) School, response to (COVID-19), a needed round of capital improvements to address basic needs. Now it’s time to look at the next steps.”
Board member Sumner Davis, like McGee, noted the district wouldn’t necessarily borrow the whole $87 million.
According to the law, all intents for issuing bonds must be published in a local newspaper, and district taxpayers can petition for the issuance of bonds to be voted on by the taxpayer base. If no petition is filed by 6 p.m. July 25, the board can issue the bonds.
If there is a petition filed and signed by at least 20% of the district voter base by 6 p.m. July 25, it will go to the ballot where 60% must vote in favor of the bonds being issued for the board to approve them.
Once the bonds are approved, they will be secured and paid by a special tax levy by the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors, which would be paid through residents’ property taxes.
“We want to make sure we get all our ducks in a row so in the future if we want to do some things, we’ve taken advantage of these provisions we had,” Davis said. “… (Legislators) realized there were going to be some needs that were going to come out of consolidation, so we’ve got this on the back end. We’re just trying to assess where we are.”
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