GENTRY — By a two-to-one margin, voters in Gentry’s school district approved restructuring of bonds to make possible the building of a multipurpose athletic facility on the high school campus.
Voting for the bond restructuring plan were 120 or 67.42 percent of the total vote. Opposing it were 58 or 32.58 percent of the votes cast. Only 178 votes were cast in the Gentry School election. There were 3,168 registered voters withinthe district, 2,500 of them active and 668 inactive but eligible to vote.
In an email communication to school board members, Gentry Public School superintendent Randy Barrett called the election results a “2-to-1 win for Gentry students.”
Voters approved the issuance of $3,600,000 in bonded debt to retire the March 1 and Aug. 1, 2002, bonds and provide approximately $3,000,000 in project funds for the new athletic facility without any increase in the current 42.90 millage rate used to collect taxes from property owners within the district.
It is estimated that a sports complex meeting the district’s needs can be built for a price tag of $3 million or less.
Payments to retire the new bond will be scheduled through fiscal year 2037.
Since school board members up for re-election were unopposed, membership on the school board will remain unchanged as a result of the election.
The multi-purpose athletic complex planning committee will meet at the district’s board room at 6 p.m., Oct. 2.
News, Pages 1 on 09/26/2012