A voter opinion survey to measure existing support for a
potential bond and parcel tax supporting school facilities and
operations, is in the works.
A voter opinion survey to measure existing support for a potential bond and parcel tax supporting school facilities and operations, is in the works.
The Gilroy Unified School District board of trustees approved Superintendent Deborah Flores’s recommendation to hire George K. Baum & Company, a full service investment banking firm based out of Kansas City, Mo., to conduct the survey and then guide the board through the process of taking the bond or parcel tax to the voters if the survey turns up positive feedback.
For starters, the board had to decide between a full service firm or one that solely conducts voter opinion surveys. Board members weighed the pros and cons before deciding on the full service agency.
While full service agencies that would stick with the district until the end charged little or no money to conduct the voter opinion surveys, firms that conduct the survey and only the survey charged anywhere from $15,000 to $21,600 for their services.
Prior to the board meeting, more than 100 middle and high school musicians flocked to the entrance of the district office to play a brief concert for the trustees. At the last board meeting, the board cut band from the elementary school day and a period from the middle school day – a period that many middle schoolers take as their band elective. After a parade of teachers and students addressed the board from the podium, beseeching them not to cut programs – “I know I sound like a broken record,” said Joshua Hungerford, a Gilroy High School student who has been playing in the school bands for almost a decade. “But what if the record did break and the music just stopped?” – Trustee Denise Apuzzo said she could not justify spending that much money on a consultant fee when the pain of cutting so many district programs was so fresh in the board’s mind.
“Spending $20,000 on a voter opinion survey seems absurd to me,” she said. “It’s a huge chunk of money in these times. I can’t justify it.”
“I would rather have somebody who’s with us from start to finish,” she added.
However Trustee Tom Bundros questioned the objectivity of a firm that charged nothing for a voter opinion survey on the assumption that they would be paid for the rest of their services. There’s a bias for the full service agency to direct the board to continue with the process, he pointed out. He asked the superintendent if an insurance policy was built in to the contract should the firm direct the board to place a measure on the ballot that turned out to be unsuccessful.
“No,” she answered.
“That’s exactly my concern,” said Rhoda Bress, board president. That’s how they make money, she pointed out, by guiding clients beyond the survey to the election.
After an in-depth discussion, the board decided on the full service agency to conduct two, free surveys, one measuring voter support of a parcel tax that would fund operations and programs and a bond that would fund facilities.
“I’m looking for a consultant to ask those two question,” Trustee Javier Aguirre said.
A parcel tax would be new step for this community, Aguirre pointed out. However, in light of the latest cuts and the community’s reaction, a parcel tax funding operations and programs could be an option, he said. The tax could bring back the programs the district has had to cut, he said.
“A survey would help me gauge the community as to where they would want to see their taxpaying money spent,” he said.
Baum will conduct both surveys for free and not charge the district if it decided not to move forward with either of the measures. The survey will take 30 to 60 days to complete and Flores said she wants to have a final decision made by June in order to drum up voter support although the deadline to put a bond on the ballot isn’t until August. “The sooner the better,” she said.
While a general obligation bond can only fund facilities that are spelled out very specifically in the plan, a parcel tax can fund anything the voters approve. Measure J, a general obligation bond voters passed to upgrade local schools, expires in 2011 and the district is hoping voters will come through again.
“Timing is everything,” Trustee Pat Midtgaard said. “We are trying to determine when would be an appropriate time to approach the voters.”
Back in January, when former Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Steve Brinkman was still at the district’s financial helm, he recommended presenting the voters with the bond during the November general election, when there’s a better voter turnout.
“It’s good to have a survey given today’s economic circumstances,” Midtgaard said. In order to pass the bond, the board must specifically state what facilities projects the money will fund. A required citizens oversight committee then ensures that the money is spent properly.
“Because of Measure J, so many things have been done in the district to improve facilities,” Midtgaard said. She has served as teacher and then principal at six of Gilroy’s elementary schools. “I’ve worked in a lot of those places and I know how bad they were. That money has gone so far,” she said of Measure J.
The consultant conducting the voter opinion survey will determine which facilities voters would be more receptive to funding. Currently, the school district has contracted an outside party to do a facilities needs assessment. That assessment will provide input when considering how much the bond will go for, if at all, Flores said. The district has a $143 million project list to chip away at that includes Phase II of Christopher High School and the modernization of many other district schools. The list of funding sources for these projects includes a $120 million portion labeled “local funding.”
Although the district may not ask for that much from voters, it’s a large chunk that is essential to accommodating Gilroy’s burgeoning student population, Flores said. The district has seen 3 percent growth in student population this year, she said.
Although bond money would cover the next phase of the district’s facilities needs, the current funding for Phase I of CHS is coming up with holes now that two properties, the donation of land made by Don Christopher and the old Las Animas School site, aren’t selling in tough economic times. Considering that, and the additional state cuts to the district’s general fund budget which fuels operations and programs, board members are hesitant to ask voters for too much.
“If you push it too far, it won’t go,” Midtgaard said.
Bond info
Median bond amount: $119,160,000
Average annual tax rate: $59.80 (per $100,000 assessed value)
Median home price, Gilroy: $639,080
Average annual tax: $382.17
Source: Jan. 10 proposal by former Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Steve Brinkman
