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AMERICAN FORK - Unfettered by a proposal that could split the district in half, Alpine School District board members voted unanimously Tuesday to put a new bond measure on the Nov. 7 ballot.
The district will ask voters to approve a $230 million bond proposal to take care of major construction of new schools and remodeling of old schools in the north Utah County district.
“We have some very specific needs in the district,” said board president JoDee Sundberg. “This is what we've been elected to do.”
Also on the ballot will be a voted leeway tax increase that would generate $4 million for district operations.
District officials said the bond and leeway will not increase rates above the 2005 tax rate.
The decision comes a week before the Orem City Council is scheduled to decide on a proposal to split from the district.
The council will meet today to learn the findings of a feasibility study concerning a secession, which could include Pleasant Grove, Lindon and Vineyard.
“We're not waiting for Orem to decide whether or not to move forward at this point in time,” Alpine School District spokeswoman Jerrilyn Mortensen said. “Hesitation to move forward puts us in a difficult situation.”
If Orem goes ahead with the split proposal, it too will appear on the November ballot.
Opinions are divided over the effect of having the two on the same ballot, but Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn believes it could put voters in a pinch.
“You'd be asking people to vote for two different things,” Washburn said. “It would become a conflicting vote. That's the dilemma Alpine is facing.”
Interested parties also differ on what will happen if both measures pass.
Major questions concern what obligations Orem and other breaking off cities would have regarding the new bond debt.
This much is known: Residents in cities that break away would continue to pay their portion on prior Alpine School District bond debts.
Alpine School District Business Administrator Rob Smith said there are so many unknowns that it's “troubling.”
“It's something that's never happened before,” Smith said. “If both go on the ballot and both are approved, we'll work it out.”
Added Sundberg: “We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”
A possibly complicating factor is that several of the projects the bond money would cover deal with Orem schools.
Included on the list of priorities are renovations at Orem High School and Mountain View High School, remodeling at Lakeridge Junior High, and significant work at Orem Junior High.
Rep. David Cox, R-Lehi, who sponsored the Utah law that enables districts to break up, thinks such a scenario would only be helpful.
“If the bond passes, it makes it easier to take care of the obligations that both sides would have to each other,” Cox said.
Washburn doesn't believe both the bond and the district split will pass if they both make the ballot.