Oak Park School Board OKs $4.5-Million Bond

The Oak Park school board has unanimously approved plans to issue a $4.5-million bond to complete financing of the recent construction of Red Oak Elementary School and to pay for improvements at Oak Park High School and its stadium complex.

Assistant Supt. Stan Mantooth said $2 million from the bond sale would be used to pay off construction of the elementary school and about $900,000 to build an additional 10 classrooms and offices at the high school.

Another $250,000 to $300,000 will go for new tennis courts at the high school and $1.1 million will be earmarked for improving the high school’s stadium complex, including putting in permanent restrooms and a snack bar, Mantooth said.

This is the ninth bond that the district will issue since it was formed in 1977. Voters at that time authorized the district to issue a total of $40 million in bonds to pay for construction and improvements of schools. The eight previous bonds issued total $27 million.

The latest bond issue will probably cost homeowners 2 cents per $100 assessed valuation of their property, or, for example, an additional $40 in annual property taxes on a $200,000 home, Mantooth said. The assessed valuation is subject to fluctuation and the actual rate will be determined at the time of the bond sale in late November or early December.

Ernie Bodnar, a financial consultant whose firm Kadie-Jensen, Johnson and Bodnar will handle the bond sale, recommended that the district sell 15-year bonds instead of the traditional 20-year bonds.

“In this interest rate climate, a 15-year maturity schedule would be slightly more favorable to the district,” Bodnar said, noting that this schedule would save the district $400,000 over the life of the bond.

Still, school officials said they look forward to the day when such financing will no longer be needed.

“It’s time to start thinking about where the end is” to issuing bonds, board President Wayne Blasman said shortly before the board unanimously approved the bond issue Tuesday night.