Winning formula?

The Moose Lake school district will be holding a bond referendum election Tuesday, May 14, to ask voters to approve the sale of bonds to complete the athletic field complex and build practice fields at the new school.

There will be two questions on the ballot: one for nearly $4 million and the second for an additional $2.7 million. Question One would have to pass during the referendum election before Question Two could pass.

The old Moose Lake school suffered damages when it was flooded in 2012, and the community and area legislators were successful in securing more aid for the school district. The voters approved a referendum in 2014 when they learned that the legislature would cover 60 percent of the cost of a new school.

As they were preparing for this bond referendum, the school board learned that the state aid is still available for the next 18 years.

“When the Moose Lake school board was looking at the options to complete our campus, they started with our most pressing needs of an overflow parking lot, an early childhood playground, additional locker room space and a trail system for cross-country,” said superintendent Robert Indihar. “When we looked at options as to how to pay for them, we saw clearly that a voter-approved bond was the most economical for our taxpayers. We still get around 50 percent state aid and farmers get a significant tax break on their land by passing a voter-approved bond.”

Question One asks for $3,935,000 in bonding authority to finance a new parking lot for the athletic complex as well as overflow parking during major events at the school; a new playground for the early childhood program; a grandstand with a press box and fiber optic cable; and a new building with lockers, restrooms, concessions, ticket sales and storage that would be built near the entrance to the athletic complex. Dugouts, bullpens and a batting cage are also needed for the baseball field on the partially completed athletic complex. The trail through the school forest is included and would be used by cross-country runners.

Question Two asks for $2,700,000 in bonding authority to finance building a softball complex with multiple lighted fields, an activities parking lot and lighting on the track/football field and baseball field. The school district has had discussions with the City of Moose Lake regarding additional city-owned fields as part of the softball complex. Two areas of the complex can be used for soccer and lacrosse in the future, it has been said.

There would be a concessions/restrooms/storage building at that complex also, as well as an activities parking lot. That complex would be used by the school for physical education and the community.

When the new school was built 2015-2017, the track/practice football field and baseball field were constructed, but funds did not allow completion of the athletic complex.

The Moose Lake school district has been cooperating with the Willow River school district for over 30 years in the sports program, and varsity football games and softball games are played on the fields at Willow River. That will continue.

Find more at http://www.completeourcampus.org.