Tomorrow, May 18th is election day.
The Emmett School District will ask Gem County Patrons to approve a $68 million bond to build a new high school, add a gymnasium at Butte View Elementary and address the safety and preventative maintenance in the district.
A spokesperson for the district tells CBS 2 News, Gem County is growing, and Emmett’s Board of Trustees and Superintendent Craig Woods are looking to the future.
Since arriving as superintendent in Aug. 2019, Superintendent Craig Woods said he has written letters regarding rezones and property splits that allow for more than 500 new residential lots.
Woods said building permits for new residents are trending to be up nearly 200 percent over 2020 and 140 percent over 2019.
If a supermajority approves the bond, it will be the first time since 1998 that voters have approved a bond when two elementary schools were built. The bond must be approved by 66 and 2/3rds of the voters. Other efforts in 2005, 2008, and 2018 failed.
A spokesperson said the life of the bond will be 30 years, which would reduce the annual cost to taxpayers. Trustees would be able to financially manage the bond payoff, reducing the actual interest cost.
The proposal gives the district time to prepare for growth.
The new bond, if approved, would build a new high school for up to 1,200 students at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Sub-Station Road.
The current High School (the Domes) would be renovated for the middle school and the existing 67-year-old building would be renovated for the district’s alternative school, Black Canyon Junior-Senior High School, for 120 students.
It would also provide buffer room as the district grows.
Woods said the new high school would open in the fall of 2024.
