(This story was updated Thursday, April 6, to clarify the state's Ag2School program and its effect on the proposed H-BC bond referendum. The changes appear in italics.)
Historically at least 70 percent of voters in the Hills-Beaver Creek School District have supported building projects proposed by the school board over the past 27 years.
On Tuesday, April 11, H-BC residents are being asked to support a two-question $29.975 million bond referendum.
If it passes, a new pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade facility will be built in Beaver Creek, and the Hugo Goehle gymnasium and vehicle garages will be updated on the East Second Street in Hills.
District officials hosted the final of two public meetings March 28 at the Goehle gymnasium.
Superintendent Todd Holthaus led the meeting, along with project manager Preston Euerle of RA Morton, ATS&R architect Sarah Fox, and financial advisers Matthew Hammer and Aaron Bushberger with Ehlers Inc.
A similar public meeting was conducted March 23 at the elementary school in Beaver Creek.
Tours of the facilities were offered at both locations.
However, few people toured the locker and garage facilities at the Goehle gymnasium.
The gym is attached to the former high school, which was not open for tours and will be demolished under the school board’s plan.
The majority of the questions posed by the 60 people in attendance centered around costs to property owners.
Hammer with Ehlers outlined the tax increases to residential, commercial/industrial, season recreational and agricultural property owners, if one or both of the referendum questions are passed by voters.
The average residential value is $155,090 in the cities of Hills, Beaver Creek and Steen and in the townships of Martin, Beaver Creek, Springwater and Clinton located within the school district.
The tax impact on a home of this value would be $324 per year for 20 years if both questions pass.
The city of Hills had the lowest residential homestead value at $139,114 and Martin Township had the highest at $221,691. The tax impact on residential property owners (which includes the house, garage and one acre of land for rural homesteads) would range from $253 to $463 annually over the next 20 years.
Of the property classifications, ag property owners make up 76 percent of the tax base in the H-BC school district.
However, agricultural property (minus the house, garage and one acre of land) would be eligible for the state’s Ag2School program in which the state would pay for 70 percent of the bond payment.
“The average farm size within the district is 411 acres,” Hammer said.
With a market value average of $10,537 per acre, the Ag2School program aid was grandfathered into the existing bond referendum passed by H-BC voters in 2009, and brought the tax impact for ag owners down to an average of $1.27 per acre in 2023.
For the new referendum, ag property owners of homestead and non-homestead properties would pay between $3.37 to $6.74 per acre based on the $10,000 per acre average market value in the district.
An online tax impact calculator is available through the www.hbcpatriots.com website under the 2023 Referendum tab.
A link ties directly to Ehlers Inc. and will calculate exact costs to any property within the H-BC school district.
Other topics addressed at meeting
•Lack of adequate instructional space needs at the elementary school, which architect Fox said was undersized when the elementary addition was completed in 1997. She said a number of classrooms are under 700 square feet when the state Department of Education recommends 850 to 900 square feet.
•Steady to slightly declining enrollment is anticipated at H-BC. Currently the district has 344 K-12 enrolled students. H-BC experienced its highest enrollment (380 students) two years ago. The lowest enrollment was just under 300 students in 2003.
•Why not build the elementary school in Hills and merge the schools on one campus? Holthaus said a community survey last fall indicated people’s preference to keep the elementary school in Beaver Creek. The plan is supported by the state Department of Education who gave the project’s plans a positive review.
•What happens if the referendum doesn’t pass? “The needs won’t go away,” Holthaus said. School board members will review the district’s long-term maintenance plan to decide which of the projects will be completed, how to pay for them, and when the projects would be completed over a 10-year period.
Support for previous H-BC bond votes high
Past H-BC bond referendums have received an average of 72 percent approval from voters.
A $1.95 million bond for the 34,000-square-foot addition to the elementary school passed with 76.8 percent support in 1996.
In 2004 a $400,000 bond for the locker room addition to the Hugo Goehle gym passed with 69.5 percent support.
The most recent bond was for $9.9 million, supported by 71 percent of voters, to construct a new secondary school in Hills.
Holthaus said the district’s building debt is currently at $8.520 million with the final payment coming in 2036.
Two polling places open on April 11
Two polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for H-BC district voters.
Beaver Creek city and the townships of Beaver Creek and Springwater vote at the Beaver Creek City Offices at 311 E. First Ave. in Beaver Creek.
Residents of Hills and Steen along with townships of Martin and Clinton vote at the Hills American Legion, 207 S. Main Ave., Hills.
Absentee voting is available and a ballot may be requested at state Secretary of State website, www.sos.state.mn.us under elections and voting, other ways to vote.
More information about the H-BC bond referendum, including the community survey results, is available at the district website, www.hbcpatriots.com.