GIBBON — Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop (GFW) Superintendent Lonnie Seifert said approving a $49.49 million Nov. 5 bond and using one PreK-12 school building instead of three will save the school district at least $275,000 a year.

“We aren’t very efficient now, we’re deficit spending and working at ways to cut costs,” Seifert said at a bond referendum informational meeting Tuesday, attended by several dozen people in the Gibbon primary school gym.

“The $275,000 (annual savings) is a conservative estimate that could be as much as $375,000 a year,” Seifert said. “With one school, we’d save on custodial and office staff and food service. The new school would be dehumidified. We’ve kicked the can far enough down the road. We’ve operated in a deficit for the last six years.”

Cost savings with one school could be realized by reducing busing, maintenance and energy consumption costs, Seifert said.

He said the school board made $465,000 in staff cuts last spring in an effort to deal with the deficit.

“We cut elementary Spanish, but we added STEM (science, technology, engineering and math),’ Seifert said. “All three school buildings have issues. There’s mold in Winthrop that will cost $20,000 to remediate. We had two pipe breaks in Fairfax over the last eight months. Plumbers couldn’t open pipes. We could easily spend $500,000 a year on long-term facilities maintenance.”

Seifert said if the November referendum passes, the Cities of Gibbon and Winthrop are interested in buying their school buildings but that he doesn’t know of anyone interested in buying the Fairfax school.

“If the voters approve the referendum, we’ll try to sell the school building for up to a year, to save demolition costs estimated at more than $1 million,” he added.

Last month, the school board approved a resolution to buy 50 acres of land just northeast of Gibbon for $662,500; $13,250 an acre; if the November referendum is approved.

Seifert said the cost per acre is not out of line for agricultural land sold for another purpose.

“Whether or not the referendum passes, we’ll probably need to close at least one school site,” Seifert said. “We have 700 students in the district now. The new school would be built for 750 students and could be expanded.”

The referendum tax impact on a residence with a $50,0000 estimated market value would be $66 a year. The impact will be $158 for a $100,000 home and $279 for a $150,000 home.

Seifert said GFW’s payable 2019 school property taxes are among the lowest in the area and would fall in the middle if the referendum passes.

An Ag to School tax credit set at 40 percent in 2017 by the Minnesota Legislature would rise to 50 percent for payable 2020 taxes, 55 percent for payable 2021 taxes, 60 percent for payable 2022 taxes and 70 percent for payable 2023 taxes.

Seifert said most of that tax credit money comes from the seven-county metro area.

A resident questioned the tax credit.

“Call me a cynic if you want. I don’t think they’ll continue funding this. I assume it’s a year-to-year thing,” said the man.

“It’s an appropriation. The Legislature has to balance its budget every two years,” said Seifert. “It’s not guaranteed but I believe if the credit goes away, you keep it till it’s gone. You are grandfathered in.”

“It’s a law. It’s pretty hard to remove it,” said board member Phil Klenk.

Seifert said if the referendum fails, the school district will still need a levy increase to stay afloat.

He said the Minnesota Department of Education gave the proposed 20-year building bond a positive review.

He invited residents to visit the school district website and input their property parcel details on the tax impact calculator to find out exactly how much of a tax hike the bond referendum would be for them.

Future bond referendum informational meetings are set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, in the Fairfax school gym, and Tuesday, Oct. 15, in the Winthrop gym.

For more information, visit https://gfwschools.org/district/bond/referendum/.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.