Building now makes good business sense

Yes, build the Whitefish High School now, as it makes good business sense to do so now.

We have $5 million in funding that is up front, which reduces the amount needed to borrow from $19 million to $14 million to be financed by a bond that is paid for by the Whitefish High School taxpayers. This pays for the remodel on the portion of the school that is practical to do so and the new from the ground up on the portion that is not practical to rebuild.

Now if we do just a remodel, the estimate is for $7 million. Which is probably low, as you know from your own experience, remodels always cost you more than you expect. And who knows what they will find when they tear into the old buildings. Plus the remodel only will cause major class disruption during construction, which building new and rebuilding will not.

Now let us look at tax cost. On a home with a resale value of $245,000, to finance and rebuild new is $53.28 per year. A $7 million remodel to wind up with an “almost” new high school is $26.64 per year. On a $245,000 home we are talking about $26.64 more per year in taxes to build a great new and remodeled high school as opposed to a remodel only and we then have an “almost” new high school. One that does not quite meet all of the new technical and space needs of our students and teachers.

Now there are many other reasons to build new. We are at the lowest building costs that we will probably see in the near future. If we remodel, it will take another year or two to get ready to go to bid. Inflation will probably set in and building costs will rise. Our current estimate for bid purposes for the bond costs are 3.5 percent, and may come in under 2.9 percent. If we wait, interest rates will probably go up. It may turn out that on a $250,000 home, two years from now with the cost increases, it may have cost less than $20 more per year on a $250,000 home, to have built the new high school now, rather than remodel two years from now.

My 53 years of business experience in Whitefish says BUILD IT NOW, as it will never cost less.

As Bea’s and my three children and three of our grandchildren attended all 12 grades in the Whitefish school system, the senior citizens of Whitefish supported all of the mill levies so that our children could receive an excellent education. Now it is our turn, as senior citizens of Whitefish, to return the favor by giving our wholehearted support to the passing of the levy for the new and remodeled high school to give the next generation of Whitefish children the best opportunity for learning possible.

— Bob DePratu