Voters to Decide Fate of $27.4-Million School Bond Measure

ARCADIA — Arcadia voters will decide Sept. 15 whether to approve a school bond measure that would raise $27.4 million to make capital improvements to the 11 campuses of the Arcadia Unified School District.

The bond measure, listed on the special municipal election ballot as Measure B, will cost each Arcadia property owner an annual fee for 25 years based on the assessed value of each property. The district has 8,200 students.

Because the annual fee is based on assessed property values, longtime property owners will pay relatively low fees, estimated at $20 to $40 annually.

But those who bought homes more recently will pay higher rates. A home assessed at $800,000, for example, would come with a $160 annual school bond fee.

Because it is a special tax, the school bond fee requires two-thirds voter approval. Such taxes are typically difficult to get past voters, particularly in tough economic times. Similar measures, to raise money for police departments, were rejected by voters in Monrovia and Baldwin Park earlier this year.

But Arcadia school board member Joann Steinmeier said she is confident the measure will pass.

“Arcadia has great identification with its schools and great pride in an excellent school district,” she said. “People realize that the state is cutting back. Traditionally, Arcadians have supported their schools.”

She acknowledged, however, that the last school bond measure to go on a local ballot was more than two decades ago.

The money is needed to improve deteriorating school buildings that range from 25 to 80 years old. “The floors, cabinets, electrical systems, insulation, plumbing--much of it needs to be replaced and upgraded,” Steinmeier said.

Earl Davis, assistant superintendent of business services for the district, said much of the money will be used to install energy-efficient lighting and heating systems and air ventilation systems such as ceiling fans.

“It will make our classrooms functional for the next 25 years and save us money in the long run on energy costs and parts replacement costs,” Davis said. None of the money will be used to pay salaries or buy educational materials, he said.

Longtime resident Johanna Hofer, however, said times are not right for a tax increase. “I’m sure there are families in Arcadia where the husband or wife has been laid off,” Hofer said. “In times like this, they’d have to scrape that money together.”

She also disagrees with how the tax is calculated. “We bought our home 28 years ago,” Hofer said. “Whatever we would pay would not be that much. But what about the guy next door, or the guy moving in? I think it’s very selfish if you just think of yourself.”

Randy Kroha, an 11-year Arcadia resident who heads the community group advocating Measure B, said the measure has gotten its greatest support from Arcadia’s Asian community, who make up the largest group of new residents.

“Our schools are now predominantly Asian and more than 80% of the new residents in the last few years are Asian,” Kroha said. “But they choose Arcadia for the quality of the schools. The Korean community and the Chinese organization both held fund-raisers” for the measure’s passage, he added.

Hofer, who wrote a ballot argument against the measure, suggested that the city should take money from its reserves or from the $3.7 million it collects each year in utility taxes to loan or give to the school district.

City Finance Director Jim Dale said such an alternative has not been discussed by the City Council and might not be legal. “The city doesn’t have a huge reserve, and most of its reserve funds are restricted in how they can be used,” Dale said.

If the school bond measure is rejected, Steinmeier said, the board will have to reconsider controversial recommendations made a year ago by a facilities task force, including rearranging several schools, starting a year-round pilot program in some elementary schools, and selling or leasing out some of the campuses.