School District to hold community forums

The Cedar Grove-Belgium School District is inviting community members to two listening sessions to provide feedback on its facility planning process next month.

Sessions will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4, and Wednesday, May 19, at the middle school auditorium.

Items to be discussed include facility sizes and academic needs, heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical issues and roof replacement. District financial information and how schools are funded will be presented, as well as solutions to the building issues. Public input will be sought and tours of the elementary and middle schools will be offered.

People may attend in person or via Zoom through a link on the district website, www.cedargrovebelgium.k12.wi.us.

Baseline cost estimates from Bray Architects for the work range from $20.8 million to $22.3 million and include improvements at each school. Those costs could rise or fall, depending on what the School Board decides to put into a referendum planned for next spring.

The proposal calls for the district’s pool, which is at the end of its lifespan and leaking water, to be reconstructed for about $2 million. A new pool — not included in the cost estimates — would cost $10 million to $15 million.

Auditorium upgrades cost about $1.5 million. A new facility not included in the estimates would cost $10 million to $12 million.

Infrastructure and renovation improvements to the elementary school, including electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning work, is about $4.6 million.

Middle school improvements would be about $2.7 million and high school work would be about $4.7 million, which includes replacing a portion of the roof.

Districtwide technology upgrades would cost about $300,000.

Upgrades to athletic facilities include building a softball field on campus for nearly $300,000, a soccer field, installing turf in the football stadium for $1.2 million and resurfacing the track for $800,000.

The board last week received a recommendation from Tremco Construction Products Group of Sheboygan that called for $1.6 million to $1.8 million to be spent on roof upgrades from 2023 through 2025. Most of the roof on the elementary and middle school building has been replaced or has a plan for upgrades, leaving the high school roof, which is a few years past its lifespan, to be addressed, Senior Field Consultant Erik Krumholz said.

Next year, he said, would be the earliest work could start because storms in Texas have caused delays in getting materials.

The idea of holding a referendum originated in fall 2019 when Lisa Voisin of Baird informed the board that $3.48 million of debt would fall off the tax rolls on April 1, 2023.

That would result in a significant tax rate decrease. A new loan of $15 million would keep the tax rate flat.

The district then conducted a facility study and began the referendum process.