MONROE — The School District of Monroe received optimistic news on Monday, June 12. Not only did the interest rate for the long-term bond of the $88 million referendum drop, but one of the top-two potential sites gave them a land offer the school board that will be hard to pass up.

The district had planned on sending out a third public survey in three years in regards to the new high school. This one would have asked which property was preferred, the Donny property on County DR, or the B&S property off 31st Avenue. Not a selectable option, but would have had information on it anyway, would have been the current location. If neither Donny nor B&S were to be passed in a meeting of the electors, the current location would default as the only other available property.

The two cheapest options had been the current site, which is just 40-acres, with $3.9 million needed for earthwork and utilities, and the 70-acre Donny property on County DR (approximately $6.2 million total cost for land, earthwork and utilities). The 70-acre B&S property, adjacent to 31st Avenue on Monroe’s far east side, was originally going to cost about $1.2 million for the land and a total cost of about $6.7 million. 

In recent renegotiations, the Donny Family offered to cut the total cost of the land purchase by $500,000, hoping to sweeten the deal. However, B&S offered something even more financially beneficial to the school district: A land swap.

“They wanted to find ways to help us and make this happen,” said Rodney Figueroa, Monroe School District Superintendent. “This is really about those two gentlemen that own this property. They wanted to find a way to make this work for the community and the school.”

Much like a trade in professional baseball or football, the plan is fairly simple — if voters approve at a yet-to-be-determined meeting of the electors. B&S would essentially give up 70 acres to the school district for a new high school and sports complex to be built and kick in another $100,000 for a 66-foot wide access road from County KK to the property. 

In return, 60 days after the new school and facilities are built, and desks, tables, scoreboards and other transferable features have been moved to the new site, B&S would take over the current high school site as-is in it’s 40-acre entirety. That would include the physical high school building, PAC and gymnasiums, baseball and football fields, tennis courts and track, and additional acreage across the property. Abraham Lincoln Elementary and its approximately 7 acres would stay with the district.

B&S could then renovate any of the facilities or demolish them, and then potentially sell off parts of the land for residential use.

“The Donnys graciously made an adjustment to their asking price per acre,” said Figueroa. “They lowered their price by a total of about $525,000 for their land ... in an effort to help with some of the cost. That was not something they had to do.”

The B&S deal would save the district about $3.15 million between the land purchase on the new site and the demolition of the structures in returning the old site into a green space. 

The district would also gain an extra 30 acres of land. 

“We’re actually selling them acreage at a higher cost per acre than what we are purchasing it for?” Deprez asked.

“Yes. It’s not acre-for-acre,” Figueroa said.

“So again, that’s an advantage to the district in that net cost,” Deprez surmised. “This is pretty huge for the district.”

“When you sell a school, you have to have the right person to buy it. That’s not a normal thing because schools are expensive,” Figueroa said.

Olson chimed in, “Oftentimes, whether it’s the $1.9 million that would convert it back to green space so that you could lot it out more easily, that’s a cost avoidance you could have. If you’re selling it as a standing building, unless you have the right purchaser that really has a want or need for it, you’re really selling it for next to nothing.”

The total cost of the project then would come in about $226,000 under the amount of simply rebuilding on the smaller current property, which had been the cheapest option previously.

“This is an incredible turning point in this process — at the 11th hour — and I don’t know what you had to do to make this happen, but ... I don’t want to celebrate before this process is done, but I do think it is important to take stock in what it took to get here to this place. Thank you for everything,” board member Jim Curran said to Figueroa.

“When they were close, I wanted a survey to get people’s true reactions, but I don’t know how anyone at this point could choose DR over B&S,” board member Nikki Austin said. “I would rather we go forward with informational meets and make sure that everybody understands the gift that we are being given than to take the time and energy and the cost involving the survey.”

If district voters turn down the property a second time (the first was in December), construction would begin on the current property. Building on the current property also would mean the gyms and PAC would need to be torn down and replaced, as financing of the project will not legally allow for renovations or connecting of the new facility with older buildings.

The new school would also be placed on the baseball and football fields, and construction would take about two years, disrupting classes, and would push both football and baseball out of the city for 2-3 years, with no high school regulation-sized facilities for either sport available within city limits. That would mean forcing the school to add costs for transportation and potential property use fees to use another district’s facility each season — the costs of which have not been determined.

A new facility along 31st Avenue would be able to house two baseball fields, a football/track stadium, two practice fields for football and soccer, eight tennis courts (up from the current four), and two on-site softball fields. Currently, tennis teams split practice and competition between the high school and Recreation Park. The softball teams play at Twining Park, and historically, soccer had played at Honey Creek Park. 

Bringing the new facilities on campus would cut down on players needing to travel across town for practices and games, and would free up scheduling for city fields and parks, which can get especially congested during the spring and early summer.

School board members gave the offer a thorough discussion, making sure nothing was missed in the proposal. In the end, the board was unanimous in selecting the B&S property as the one to bring forth to district voters. The board also let go of the Donny property contract, meaning the site is no longer under consideration.

Board member Mike Froseth, Jr. said that spending $15,000 on a survey would be deemed irrelevant at this point.

“It’s so much better value to pursue this existing B&S site,” Froseth said.

The survey would also push back the dates for decision-making on which site to choose, when to hold a meeting of the electors, and, ultimately the beginning of construction, which is already several months behind due to not having a secured location big enough to fit the expected 60-acre space.

“I agree with what Mike is saying, I think this is a landscape changer with the B&S property,” board member Phil Vosberg said. 

“I also think that this seemed like a no-brainer hearing that information tonight about moving forward with that property. I didn’t like that property at first, but I will tell you that one of the things I do prefer about it is our kids don’t have to cross Highway 11 to get to school,” board member Terri Montgomery said. “I think it’s kind of a no-brainer when it’s going to net us more money ... and we don’t have to worry about getting rid of the existing land or any of those inspections. I think it’s a game-changer.”

The board did not decide on a date to hold a meeting of the electors, which will need to be announced about three weeks prior to the vote. The contract with B&S also stipulates that closing on the land must occur prior to Aug. 1. The board has one more meeting this month to decide when to schedule it. Given both scheduling conflicts of Fourth of July and the Green County Fair in the third week, the window is narrowed. 

The district also intends to hold four to five informational meetings for the public to learn about the B&S site and some of the changes that have been made to the layout since the site was first picked back in the fall of 2022 before the November election. Before those informational meetings, likely this upcoming week, a district newsletter with more information will be sent to all district residents.

One major change is the location of the main entrance and the layout of the sports complex and the building itself. Originally, the main entrance would be on 31st Avenue, about a block south of Northside Elementary School. Concerns were raised about traffic congestion in the morning with that placement. In the new proposal, the main entrance would be off County KK to the south, with a secondary controlled entrance along 31st Avenue. During morning drop-off and afternoon pickup, vehicle traffic would be routed to County KK, while pedestrian foot traffic would still be allowed access on 31st Avenue.

The location of the school on the property would also move to the northern-most end, where the land is flattest and less earthwork would need to be done. The baseball and softball complex then would fill the western area of the property on 31st Avenue.

Bond rating

The bond anticipation notes were issued in December, and were due on Wednesday, June 14. A couple of weeks ago, the interest rate was projected to be near 4.6% due to market swings. Instead, the market pulled back, and after a call last week, the district will save more than $3 million over the 20-year bond, which will last until 2043.

“We were expecting an interest rate of around 4.48%. The current estimate now will be 4.16%. That saves us $3,136,638 over the life of the bond,” district business administrator Ron Olson said. “I would say we rated out pretty well.”

The money will not be added to the cost of the project, but instead savings on payments over the next 20 years. Similar to a mortgage, a lower interest rate simply means lower monthly payments until the debt is paid off.