Pool study to be done

The process of determining the future of the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District pool took another step forward on Jan. 13.

The School Board approved hiring Ramaker and Associates, an architectural and engineering firm from Sauk City, to do a study of the pool. The cost is not to exceed $5,500.

The pool is at the end of its lifespan.

The study is part of a larger analysis the district is taking of its facilities. Bray Architects recently did a study of all the district’s facilities and identified several issues the district may address.

On the list are improving traffic flow at the elementary and middle schools, playground space, parking, what to do with the softball and soccer fields, the pool, the auditorium, music and band classrooms, food service and kitchen upgrades, technical education and family and consumer education improvements, resurfacing the track, roof work, plumbing and heating and cooling systems and day care space.

The board began facility discussions in November and added a meeting dedicated to facility issues on the third Wednesday of each month beginning this year.

The facility study was sparked by a presentation by Baird Managing Director Lisa Voisin, who showed that the district has $3.48 million in debt with its last payment scheduled for April 2, 2023.

“Do you want your taxes to drop that significantly or do you want to think about filling that in with a new loan or new borrowing to kind of keep it flat?” she asked.

The magic number is $15 million. Spending that much would require a referendum.

“If you borrow $15 million and your first payment started where (debt) drops (off), your payments would be flat. There would be no increase in taxes for debt,” Voisin said.

It wouldn’t be a unique approach, she said.

“Districts across the state do this all the time. They plan for opportunities like this. They say, hey, what are some of the needs of our facilities?” Voisin said.

The district tax rate, she said, is lower than the state average.

The last referendum the district held didn’t require a tax increase, she said. That was in 2010 for $6 million, most of which went to remodel the middle school.

That project came in $3.5 million under budget because the district locked in low interest rates. The rates on the district’s current debt range from 0.275% to 3.125%.

Before that, the district built its high school in 1997 for $10 million. Voisin said new high schools today cost tens of millions of dollars more.

The district has a bond rating of AA, the third-highest attainable, which allows it to lock in low interest rates.