The Effingham Board of Education voted to extend their current taxable health/life/safety bonds to the tune of $5,674,000 in special session Monday night. The board had previously agreed to approve the bond extension, but had to wait for confirmation from the State Board of Education that the proposed work qualified as health/life/safety improvement. Superintendent Mark Doan said that approval came in on Friday. Monday’s vote finalized the authorization to sell the bonds at an interest rate 2.65-percent. Annual payments of the bonds will land at around 1.3-million yearly until 2023. Doan does not expect that extending the current bonds will increase taxes as the District’s annual payments will remain about the same.
The money raised from selling the bonds will be used on major infrastructure projects at Effingham High School and Central Grade School. Projects at Central Grade school include window replacements, asbestos abatement, adding ceramic floors in the bathrooms, adding carpets to classrooms, and replacing a portion of the roof. For EHS projects include a new HVAC system, installing a new boiler, fixing a drainage issue on the outside of the building, replacing existing lighting with LED lights, and installing an entirely new roof (167,000 sq. feet).
