Bond Process
School districts going for a bond election typically seek money for capital improvements and other long-term projects that require a large capital payment up front. A governing board will approve whether to put the bond on the ballot, the size of the bond and what the language to use on the ballot.
The up-front money comes from investors, which is then paid back by taxpayers over a long period of time, generally upward of two decades, with interest.
“Yavapai County makes that payment for us,” board assistant Tricia Winters said. “When we do our budget, we list that we have bonded, how much we’ve spent and then we calculate what that looks like for taxpayers and it goes out to them and Yavapai County collects that money. And each year they make a principal and interest payment.”
Bond elections typically impact property taxes. The county assessors will determine the market value of properties, which may vary from its true market value. The value assessments are mailed out on a regular, generally multi-year basis. The final taxable assessed value is what the new tax increase would affect. For example, an apartment complex’s value does not depend on the number of tenants, ages of tenants or number of units, just the total assessed value of the property and buildings on it.
The Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District Governing Board unanimously approved filing an interest in pursuing a $30 million bond in the November election during its meeting on May 6.
Ahead of the June 8 Yavapai County deadline, the board will discuss the ballot language and a pro-and-con list for having the bond at its meeting Wednesday, June 3.
The board was presented with three possible amounts: $15 million, $25 million and $30 million and two options for the election, in the November general election or in a mail-in ballot in 2027.
The vote was simply to approve filing an interest in pursuing the bond, butassuming nothing changes before the June 8 deadline, the bond election will be on the November ballot. The school district has to pay for the election to be on the ballot; if the bond was the only item on a 2027 mail-in ballot, the cost could be upwards of $50,000.
“If the board needed to have a special meeting to cancel the election, if you will, you could do that,” Jim Giel, of Dust Rosenfeld law firm, told the board. “It’s pretty unconventional, I’ll tell you, but we do have your action tonight, so we have the ability to get started.”
Mike LaValle, from the financial corporation Stifel, said for the $30 million bond, the average annual tax rate increase would be about 43 cents per $100 value in property. The $200,000 average home value in the Cottonwood area would cost a property owner $86 annually. Comparatively, the $15 million bond would have meant roughly $52 and the $25 million bond would have meant about $72.
Arguments for the Bond
Prior to the meeting, the board held a study session with discussions from district officials on what the bond would allow them to begin once the bond money came in.
“We do have a lot of aging HVAC systems in the 20-year range,” facilities manager Matt Dalton said. “[Mountain View Preparatory] has got a lot of air conditioners that are probably getting towards end of life. A lot of our underground infrastructure is starting to deteriorate to the point to where we’re having to start to do replacements, especially between the district office Cottonwood Community [School] and [Cottonwood Educational Services].”
Twice in the past month, parts of COCSD have needed to shut down due to burst pipes.
“We did buy one new bus last year, but our oldest bus that’s currently in service is 2008,” he said. “It’s one of our backup buses. We’re required by DPS to have a certain number of backup buses along with our regular buses that are running routes. The average age of our fleet is anywhere from 8 to 18 years old.”
School and classroom furniture have also required repairs, but Dalton said much of it is getting to the point of needing large scale replacements and upgrades.
Parrish Jackson, the IT director for the district, said a bond would also allow them to make moves on upgrading security for keyless entry across the schools and replacing the power switches would be the two biggest capital expenses.
The previous bond was a $15 million bond approved in 2014. That bond funded many HVAC systems throughout the district also beginning to deteriorate.
Other capital expenses Superintendent Jessica Vocca said need to be addressed are issues with DDB’s septic tank and parking lot.
Board Hesitations
Where I find a little discomfort is the timeline of it,” board member Jak Teel said.
While Teel would make the motion for the $30 million bond amount, he said he wanted to get more public input and collaboration.
“That is part of the plan,” Vocca said. “To get out into community groups and into communities such as Del Webb, Cornville [through] Verde Santa Fe. Kind of like our road show of what we did with the override. It is also in our plans moving forward — if this is something that we move forward with — is to have people come in and look at the schools.”
Sex Ed Curriculum
The board also unanimously approved the adoption of its new eighth-grade abstinence sex education courses. The completely opt-in curriculum is replacing an old curriculum, which is nearly identical, with updated language.
“We needed to switch curricula because the one we were using had expired and so this is actually an improvement also on what we were teaching,” Yavapai County Community Health Services Sexual Health Coordinator Laurel Abdelnour said. “I actually just finished the last classes of the year on Monday at DDB, so that was sad to finish for the year, but things have been going very well and we’re hoping to be able to continue this.”
