BRECKENRIDGE — Breckenridge Community Schools is asking voters Nov. 3 to approve borrowing up to $12.4 million in general obligation bonds, according to the ballot language on the county clerk’s unofficial proposal list.
The question lists the purposes as “erecting, furnishing, and equipping structures and additions to the elementary school; remodeling ... school buildings, including HVAC and school security improvements; acquiring and installing instructional technology; ... improving playgrounds, parking lots, and sites; and purchasing buses.”
The district’s bond page describes the plan in more detail: four new elementary classrooms, an expanded cafeteria and kitchen, parking and traffic changes, playground work and secure entries, plus replacement of the middle/high school’s underground plumbing, which dates to 1966, and its kitchen, ventilation, electrical and PA, bell and clock systems.
On cost, the ballot’s informational section says the estimated 2027 levy for the new bonds is 1.15 mills, “for a -0-mill net increase over the prior year’s levy,” and that the “estimated simple average annual millage” to retire the debt is 2.22 mills over a maximum of 15 years. The district says the total debt levy would stay at 3.80 mills. The district has $10,955,000 in qualified bonds outstanding. In plain terms: the tax rate is not projected to rise, but the district would be paying on debt for longer than it otherwise would.
The district traces its current debt to a 2009 bond (3.4 mills), a 2012 extension and a 0.4-mill addition approved in 2020. State law requires bond proceeds to be audited and bars using them for maintenance, salaries or other operating costs. Questions on the proposal go to Superintendent Wade Slavik at (989) 842-3182.
The district serves parts of Gratiot, Midland and Saginaw counties, so voters in all three will see the question.