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Whitefish Voters to Decide Muldown Bond Request in October

Whitefish school board agrees to ask voters for $26.5 million bond in Oct. 3 election

By Dillon Tabish
Muldown Elementary in Whitefish on May 3, 2017. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

Whitefish voters will decide whether to build a new Muldown Elementary School in a bond election this fall.

The Whitefish School District Board of Trustees on Tuesday night unanimously agreed to ask voters for a $26.5 million bond that would construct a new elementary facility and demolish part of the existing site.

Residents within the elementary school district will vote Oct. 3 in a mail-in ballot election.

A committee of staff, planners and residents has reviewed options for the aging facility over the last year and landed on a recommendation: build a new facility next door to Muldown while renovating part of the existing school, which would be closed but available for possible future use.

The school board unanimously endorsed the recommendation and agreed to ask voters for approval this fall.

“There’s really no question in my mind: It’s the best option for the community,” Ruth Harrison, vice-chair of the Whitefish school board of trustees, said.

“Muldown School is deteriorating. It was not designed to last forever. There are so many parts of the basic, essential infrastructure that are either failing or no longer serving our community well.”

The school was built in 1966, with a major renovation completed in 1992. Today it is Montana’s largest elementary school and is filled with nearly 670 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Whitefish’s only public elementary school is showing significant wear and tear. Its heating and ventilation system that runs on two boilers, both of which are outdated. One is 60 years old and remains operational through piecemeal maintenance. The roof is structurally failing and leaking, leading staff to set up garbage cans throughout the building that routinely catch water. Winter snowfall forces the school to pay $3,000 each time to have the 50,000-square-foot roof shoveled to prevent caving. Electrical issues, overcrowding and safety concerns, parking and drop-off congestion — the list of problems continues to pile up, according to school officials.

“That building has some very real issues and we need to do something as a community about that, and the community needs to decide that,” Nick Polumbus, a school trustee, said.

“What we discovered as we went through this process, you don’t just replace boilers. The infrastructure that goes with that has to be upgraded. You don’t just replace the roof. The structural component has to be upgraded, too… It’s just not as simple as replacing a couple things and fixing the parking lot.”

To cover the 20-year bond worth roughly $26.5 million, property taxes would increase roughly $131 annually on a home with a taxable value of $240,000, the median value in Whitefish, according to the school district. For a home with a taxable value of $200,000, property taxes would increase roughly $110 annually. Market value can be different than market price; to view your taxable value, visit here.

Polumbus said the school board and review committee took a conservative approach to addressing Muldown’s needs, and that a 15 percent contingency fund is part of the bond request. In the coming months, the district will embark on a public awareness campaign that aims to inform residents of the issues at the school.

“We need to make sure the community understands what I understand about that building,” Polumbus said.