Elmhurst Schools Seek $23.5M In Debt For Building Work

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst School District 205 is looking to go $23.5 million in debt for building projects, but officials say the debt won't increase property taxes.

Last month, the school board voted for a notice of intent to issue up to $8.5 million in working cash bonds for building projects throughout the district. That money is meant to pay for regular building work and ensure that the district has enough money in its bank account.

Now, the board is also considering another $15 million in bond debt to help pay for what are known as "life safety" projects.

In August, the district indicated the costs for the life safety projects would be $40 million over a decade. But that number has dropped since then.

Under state law, life safety work can include such things as roofs, sprinkler systems, alarms, drills and emergency communication systems.

Over the summer, a district architect identified life safety projects over the next 10 years and their costs. That list was given to the DuPage Regional Office of Education, which whittled down the list, according to a district memo. The work is now estimated at $21 million.

At the same time, the regional office put a higher priority on several items on the list, district official Joe Blomquist said.

"The result is an increase of items that must be addressed within the next five years, which shortens the window of completing the work and therefore reduces the inflationary adjustments to these work items," Blomquist, assistant superintendent of finance, said in an email to Patch on Wednesday.

At Tuesday's board meeting, Blomquist made the case for the debt, informing members of the lowest amount of cash on hand annually for the last six years.

The low cash point comes in late May each year, just before a new infusion of property tax income.

Last May, the low cash point dropped to $4.5 million, far lower than the $48 million three years earlier.

Blomquist said $4.5 million is still in the safe zone.

"But we want to provide additional funds to make sure we can financially sustain our high-quality educational programs and our high-quality facilities," he told the board.

This summer, the district completed $168 million in building projects, which voters approved in 2018.

Next week, the state plans to release its latest round of financial profile scores for Illinois' 850 school districts.

Last year, the district received the state's worst financial rating, which local officials blamed on an accounting change.

District 205 is one of only a handful of districts statewide to get the "watch" designation. The district is far wealthier than the others on the list.