Voters in the Owego-Apalachin School District overwhelmingly voted in favor of two propositions Tuesday, allowing the district to issue serial bonds, along with using money from its capital reserve fund.
Both propositions unofficially passed with about an 80 percent approval rate. The tallies will become official at a Thursday night meeting in the district board room. From noon to eight o’clock on Tuesday, residents were able to vote for the school’s plan to borrow $9.6 million from the state and to use $1.5 million from its district reserve. The borrowed money will be fully reimbursed by the state over the course of the next thirty years.
The project for the new Owego Elementary is expected to cost somewhere between $50 and $60 million, about 85 to 90 percent of which will be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Now that the propositions have been approved, the district can award companies bids for the first phase of construction, once the results are certified on Thursday. Officials are planning for the school to be opened for the start of the 2015-2016 school year.
