Owosso schools keep 4.7-mill debt levy; bonds to sell in $12M rounds

Owosso property owners will keep paying the school district's 4.7-mill debt levy this winter. Superintendent Steve Brooks told the Board of Education on Aug. 12 that if the district's August bond proposal had failed, Owosso Public Schools would have been required to reduce that levy when the December tax levy came up. It passed, so the levy stays.

The tax levy resolution — the 4.7 debt mills plus the 18 mills the minutes list as homestead mills — was listed for future action on the board's Aug. 26 regular meeting agenda at the Performing Arts Center, according to the packet posted by the district. A millage is a tax on assessed property value; a debt levy pays off bonds the district has already sold.

The bond itself will be sold in pieces. Brooks told the board the district's financial advisers at PFM recommended a negotiated sale rather than a competitive one, because each series is roughly $12 million and a negotiated sale lets the advisers pick the moment to go to market instead of locking in a date months ahead. The bonds must be sold by the end of October or early November, and before Dec. 1. The board signaled support on Aug. 12 without voting; the formal bond authorization resolution was on the Aug. 26 agenda for action.

Brooks also laid out money the district expects to gain around the edges of the sale. He estimated roughly $250,000 in arbitrage rebate from each round of bonds sold over the next three years — close to three-quarters of a million dollars — and said the district's practice of using its fund balance instead of borrowing to cover summer payroll saves about $100,000 a year in legal and interest costs. Together, he told the board, that is about $1 million in flexibility for future projects or unexpected costs.

Families should not expect construction crews soon. Brooks said the district must first receive the bond proceeds, then spend roughly a year planning, with construction anticipated in the summer of 2028. Separately, he said the district has about $3.5 million in sinking fund money that could pay for a facility project sooner, and raised the possibility of an energy bond through Trane or another provider to handle boilers and lighting — items cut from the original bond scope. Building signs listing each school's planned projects were to go up before the first day of school, which was Aug. 20.

In classrooms, the board approved two certified hires on Aug. 12: Aubrey Busby for fifth grade at Emerson Elementary at $46,210, and Kyle Nesbit for the construction trades position at Owosso High School at $62,578. Brooks said Busby is an Owosso High School graduate who student-taught in Chesaning, and that Nesbit brings more than 20 years of construction experience after a roughly two-month search that ran through area contractors. Kindergarten registrations stood at 228 the day before the meeting, against a target of about 225 — though Brooks cautioned the district will not have a real count until students report. Curriculum Director Cathy Dwyer told the board in July the district landed an additional $288,000 literacy grant for small-group instructional kits, and that staff would spend part of the opening days on state-required dyslexia training, with four other districts joining Owosso for one session.

Two smaller spending items sit at opposite ends of the scale. The district signed the contract for a Rural Development Grant worth about $100,000 for interior work at the FFA barn — cement pads, insulation and electrical — but Brooks said garage doors are on backorder and the grant work waits on the building inspector's sign-off. And the district's forklift dates to the 1970s, with batteries bought about nine years ago for roughly $10,000 that no longer hold up. A refurbished propane forklift from Alta Material Handling in Lansing runs a little more than $15,000, comes with a warranty, and falls under the board's purchasing threshold, so no vote is required; the old machine would be scrapped toward the cost. An "Obsolete Material Forklift" item appeared on the Aug. 26 agenda for future action.

The former middle school also came back. Brooks reported environmental, architectural and building inspections at the closed building in recent weeks with no new issues found, and said the project could be approved in the coming months with construction shortly after the first of the year. Venture, Inc. has been under contract to buy the building since 2022 for conversion into 53 affordable apartments; The Current reported Aug. 25 that the purchase agreement was set to expire Aug. 1 with no extension vote in the July packet. Venture representatives were scheduled to appear in person at the Aug. 26 meeting. Brooks also told the board the City and Friends of the Shiawassee approached the district about the river trail near the bus garage demolition area, where the district holds an easement, and that he was willing to talk if the outside groups fund their share.

What happens next: The district has not yet posted minutes for the Aug. 26 regular meeting, so the outcomes of the bond authorization resolution, the tax levy and the Wilkinson Road property proposal are not on the record. The board's next regular meeting is 5:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Performing Arts Center, 765 E. North St. Brooks told the board he will be away at the Michigan Association of School Administrators conference that night and that Dwyer will assist.