District 86 homeowners have until Monday to challenge an $82 million borrowing plan that would raise property taxes and fund building work at Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South high schools.
The District 86 board is set to vote Nov. 17 on selling the bonds without a voter referendum, Patch reported. If 10 percent or more of the district's registered voters sign a petition by Monday, Nov. 2, the district would have to put the bond sale to a public vote, according to The Hinsdalean. No petition effort has been reported.
As we reported Oct. 20, the board voted Sept. 29 to begin the bond process. The plan calls for a working cash bond and a life-safety bond. Neither type requires a referendum under Illinois law, but residents can force one on the working cash portion by filing a petition within 30 days of the district's published notice.
The expected property tax increase is $83 a year for a home at the district's median value of nearly $570,000, according to Patch. That amount would rise $10 annually.
About $35 million of the debt would go toward life-safety projects, Patch reported. About half of that is for a new heating plant at Hinsdale Central to convert the building from steam to hot water heat. The Hinsdalean reported the heating plant carries an estimated price tag of $16.7 million and would take three summers to complete.
The remaining roughly $47 million gives the district flexibility on spending. The district has presented a list of possible projects that includes athletic field turf, stadium lighting, locker room and press box work, domed fields, gym air conditioning, science labs and culinary arts labs at both schools. But the list is not final.
Board member Liz Mitha raised that point at the board's Oct. 27 meeting. "I think there is a bit of confusion in the community that this list is definitely going to happen," she said, according to Patch.
Superintendent Chip Pettit said the district could not afford all the work on the list and that the board will identify its priorities, Patch reported.
Board member Bobby Fischer said the district's buildings are "objectively behind where they should be." He added: "We're not keeping up."
The board's finance committee, which would typically vet a borrowing plan of this size, has not met since June, according to Patch. The committee canceled its last three meetings. That period coincides with Pettit's arrival as superintendent. No official explanation for the cancellations has been reported.
District 86 voters approved borrowing for projects at Central and South in 2019. The exact figure varies across sources, reported as $139 million by The Hinsdalean and $140 million by Patch. A year before that referendum, voters rejected a larger borrowing proposal of $166 million, Patch reported.
If no petition is filed by Monday, the board would vote at its Nov. 17 meeting to approve the bond sale. The earliest the bonds could be sold after that vote is Nov. 23, according to The Hinsdalean. The board would have until February, the deadline for filing its tax levy, to close the sale.
