Wrenshall-area residents will vote on school building questions

Cloquet isn't the only town in Carlton County that may see higher-than-usual voter turnout on Tuesday for a midterm election. County Auditor Paul Gassert expects to see high numbers in the communities that make up the Wrenshall School District, because of a three-question facility referendum on the ballot.

Question No. 1 asks for a total of $12,967,500 for renovations to the existing K-12 facility and repurposing of the swimming pool area.

Question No. 2 asks voters to approve $550,000 to restore the 1977 pool, which has been closed since spring because of mechanical failures. Passage of this question would allow the pool to be fully renovated, with new liner, insulation, pumps and other mechanical systems as well as renovated locker rooms and handicap accessibility. It would then be possible to extend the operational season of the pool.

Question No. 3 asks for $1,722,500 to renovate classroom technology and infrastructure, including remodeling the upper elementary rooms to gain an extra classroom and to add extra outlets, USB ports and technology infrastructure to support use of extra technology devices in the classrooms.

Each question is dependent on the previous question passing.

This will be the second time in two years that the Wrenshall School District has asked its voters to approve bonding for building projects: In April of 2017, the district asked voters to approve a $12.5 million building referendum for school renovations and expansion. That vote failed with 72.4 percent voting against it.

After that vote failed, the district reached out to community members to try to come to a consensus about providing for the needs of the district moving forward. They formed a District Facility Committee, which included several members of both the "vote yes" and "vote no" groups involved in the previous referendum. With help from Architectural Resources Inc., the facility committee came up with five different plans that they presented to the board and community in May of this year. After meeting with community members and others, they ultimately narrowed it down to one final concept, which the full school board approved in August.

In a letter to district residents, School Board and Facilities Committee member Janake Fisher-Merritt said the process was a good one.

"The negativity and division that came out during last year's failed vote was difficult for all of us," he wrote. "This process, while challenging at times, has been a great antidote to that."

Superintendent Kim Belcastro said the School Board and District Facility Committee worked hard identifying the absolute needs of the district and to engage the community.

"Overall, it feels that the community is more supportive of it," she told the Pine Knot News. "The District is optimistic that there is a chance to get this [building referendum] through. However, this is never an easy thing to accomplish."

Nuts and bolts of Question No. 1:

Passage of the first question would allow the school district to address issues of indoor air quality and fire suppression, heating and ventilation, asbestos removal, roof replacement on most of the building, replacement of single-pane windows and tuckpointing on the brickwork. The elementary wing would be "re-skinned," which would provide insulation to currently uninsulated walls and a path for ducting proper airflow, along with replacing windows. A gymnasium addition to the existing gym would replace the gymnasium space lost by not using the recreation building for sports anymore. The floor in the existing gym would also be replaced.

The main entrance and offices would be relocated to allow for handicap accessibility to the main entrance and increased security, allowing in-person check-in to the building.

The middle school science classroom would be remodeled.

The recreation building, with its concrete floors, would be remodeled to become Industrial Tech space, adding insulation and connecting the building to the main heating and building security systems.

If Question No. 1 passes but the second question fails, the pool would be filled in and converted to a different use.

Tax impact

The Wrenshall School District has a tax impact chart on its website for different types of property, different values and the impact of each referendum question.

For example:

If Question No. 1 passes, the estimated annual property tax impact for residents in 2019 on a house valued at $100,000 would be $149 per year.

If Question. No. 2 also passes, the additional amount added to the property tax would be $8.

If Question No. 3 also passes, that would be an additional $26 property tax increase, making the total impact of all three questions $183 on a $100,000 home.

Some residents, however, are worried about other tax impacts the school district and its residents may be facing in the near future, as recent tax court decisions regarding property tax valuations for a number of different utility providers - including oil and natural gas pipelines and electric power transmission lines - could see the burden of some of those property taxes shifting from the utility companies to the taxpayers.

According to Carlton County Assessor Kyle Holmes, although it was the state that set the valuations, it will likely fall to the local governmental bodies (those that benefited from the pipeline taxes) to pay back the difference. For example, this spring a tax court judge found that the Minnesota Department of Revenue overvalued Enbridge Energy's oil pipeline system by billions of dollars. The impact of that decision for the years 2011-2013 would mean a refund of $2.5 million to Enbridge in Carlton County alone.

Locally, Holmes explained in a press release, this means an estimated impact of $1.1 million coming from the county, $200,000 from the townships, $400,000 from the school districts and $700,000 from the state. Additionally, the valuations will be less going into the future, which will cause a "tax shift" in the future as well.

Holmes warned that elected officials around the county should continue to monitor the situation and begin planning how any payback obligations might be met.

The Enbridge court decision is currently being appealed but at least three others have been settled, with much smaller tax impacts.

The question of consolidation

Consolidation between the neighboring school districts of Carlton and Wrenshall has been a discussion point for decades and some residents in both districts are pushing hard to see the two small schools combine to increase opportunities for students and cut costs. However, the two boards were unable to come up with a consolidation option that both could agree on, and the most recent talks ended close to two years ago.

Belcastro said the Wrenshall School Board has received a letter from the Carlton School District to begin consolidation talks again.

Both school boards also have three seats up for re-election, which could change the composition of both the Carlton and Wrenshall board. The question of the different candidates' stances on consolidation has been an important one in the lead-up to the election.

"The Wrenshall Board will be responding back to the Carlton School District once the referendum is over," Belcastro said.