Catoosa Public Schools Asking Voters To Pass $9M Bond Issue

A proposed tax increase to build a new elementary school in Catoosa is on the ballot again.

Catoosa Public Schools is asking voters to pass a $9 million bond issue to finish a project they started nearly a year ago.

Catoosa voters passed a $52 million bond in February 2022, that began work on a new elementary school for the district. Superintendent Robert Schornick said, during the design process, they realized they had gone over budget and scaled back. However, he said the recent rise in interest rates has forced them to return to voters with a proposed 5.52% tax increase over the next 10 years.

"As soon as individuals see a tax increase bond, they are hesitant," said Schornick. "They do not want to raise their taxes, but what I try to communicate to them is that in order for us to transform and to even think about reimagining how Catoosa Public Schools is managed, is led, is moving toward the future, we have to think about raising our millage rate, we have to think about raising our taxes."

The potential impact would be about $110 per year for someone with a $2,000 property tax bill.

The district has held several public meetings over the last few months to inform voters on the project. Schornick said some in the community have questioned why the district was not prepared for something like this.

"I think it's very difficult given the situation, given the circumstances, given the timing that there's not a superintendent, there's not a financial consultant, there's not an architect, in my opinion there's not a construction management group that could have predicted the economic instability or the elevated inflation costs that we are going through right now," he said.

If the bond does not pass, the new school will be built without a wing for Pre-K and Kindergarteners. They will stay in the current 86-year-old Helen Paul Elementary. If it does go through, the first wing housing 1st through fifth graders would be complete in August 2024 and the second wing a year later.

Voter's head to the polls on February 14th.