The Ector County ISD Bond Committee Thursday reached a consensus for bond projects.
The committee will make a recommendation to the ECISD Board of Trustees at 6 p.m. June 20, the ECISD website said.
Committee members agreed on a recommendation of 10 projects: a new CTE center, Priority 1 and Priority 2 maintenance/repairs, technology improvements, fine arts needs, Transportation Department needs, Ag Farm needs, Transition Learning Center needs, athletics needs and a new middle school.
The group also agreed on the need to keep the bond price tag at a level that will not require ECISD to raise its tax rate. Currently, ECISD leaders project the district could take on a bond package of about $396 million without increasing the tax rate and that number could increase by the time a bond election is held, a news release said.
According to an Odessa American article from April 20, over the last several years ECISD has made moves that saved taxpayers $26.9 million in future interest payments, according to the district.
“We have approximately $400 million in what’s called bond capacity, which means we have the ability as a system to go out and capture and really sell $400 million worth of bonds without raising the tax rate because the current tax rate has the ability to pay off $400 million worth of bonds,” Superintendent Scott Muri said in that interview.
The reason ECISD is in this position, he said, is because of the good stewardship of the board of trustees.
“Over the last three years they have maintained the current tax rate at $1.17, so they haven’t raised taxes the last four years. They have also paid off bonds early, and so much like in your own personal life if you have a mortgage, you sometimes have the ability to make an early payment or two. Over the last three years we’ve been able to make some early payments, if you will, and we’ve actually saved approximately $25 million just in interest … and will do that again this year,” Superintendent Muri said.
Still to be determined are the precise dollar figures to be invested in each of those areas, and keeping that figure under the threshold of a tax rate increase, the release said.
The committee also discussed a new elementary school, a new middle school, athletic needs, the Ag Farm, the Transition Learning Center and a new high school.
This final meeting began with a presentation from Texas economist Ray Perryman. His economic forecast for Texas and the Permian Basin is continued population growth. He gave an example of the boom seen locally between 2013-2022 when 9,400 houses were built in Ector County – a total that was 37% higher than the previous 30 years.
Perryman said he anticipates another 8,000 or so homes to be built here in the next decade. In addition, he cites the need for 310,000 additional workers in the Permian Basin by the year 2050, with 62,000 of those needed in Ector County.
He also quoted a report from the United States Department of Energy that forecasts the worldwide need for energy will require 30% more oil and natural gas than today (even with a 350% increase in renewable energy), and he pointed out the oil from the Permian Basin has the lowest carbon content of any on-shore source in the world. In summary, he said the economic future of this region is strong, families and kids will continue to be here and they will need good schools to support them.
The committee also took a few minutes to review the last successful school district election, the Tax Ratification Election (TRE) in 2018, and the “Promises Made, Promises Kept” list of completed projects. A group of community members formed a TRE Oversight committee and met regularly with school district officials after the election, ensuring that the four outlined goals of the TRE were followed: raises for all employees, bus replacements and a regular replacement schedule each year thereafter, controlled access entry doors and security fencing where needed, and roof replacements at 27 facilities damaged by hail. The first three items of the TRE are complete; and the final three packages of roof replacements are being bid now.
