Surrey school bond vote set for Nov. 3
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SURREY - Voters in Surrey Public School District will get a second chance to vote on a school bond issue on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The vote will be held in Surrey City Hall from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
The estimated cost of the bond issue is about $5.8 million, requiring 35.98 mills for 20 years. The estimated annual tax impact for the base project would be about $157 per year for $100,000 of residential property and $175 per year for $100,000 in agricultural or commercial property, according to district information.
On June 9, voters in the Surrey school district narrowly defeated the $5.8 million bond issue, which would have added classrooms to replace portables and allowed other repairs.The measure required 60% for passage. It achieved about 58.6%. Now voters will get another opportunity to decide on the project.
According to information provided by the school to its patrons, the district faces the following facility challenges:
– Portable classrooms installed in 2012 were intended to be temporary and are nearing the end of their lifespan. In 2024, the State Fire Marshal identified safety concerns with the connection between the main school building and the portable classrooms.
– Portions of the building have aging windows, flooring, fixtures and ceilings that have not been updated in decades.
– The roof has structural concerns under heavy snow loads.
In addition there are issues with stairs not meeting commercial building code requirements, guardrails and open risers that do not meet safety standards and wheelchair ramp slopes that exceed accessibility limits.
A community task force recommended replacing the aging portable classrooms with eight new permanent classrooms and building a new accessible, code-compliant connection to the main school building.