Have you started planning for your next bond issue? Here are some tips to get started. First, set aside some to time to plan. Yes you have to plan to plan. Getting organized is critical to having a successful building program. .
Organize a team to gather data that can identify the needs in your district. A demographer to gather population information so that you can identify pockets of growth in your community, a financial adviser can assist in how you can finance the bond and what the tax impact will be, a bond attorney can assist in the legal matters of holding a bond election, an architect can assist in developing a facility assessment of any existing campuses that may need renovations or additions and can estimate the construction costs. Also enlist your own staff to evaluate your current grade level structure and sizes of your existing campuses and offer ideas for improvements.
After the facility assessment is completed, enlist local community members to form a citizen's advisory group. Have the advisory group study the information and offer ideas as to what they feel are the critical needs and how best to accomplish the needed facility improvements.
Take time to study past bond elections and why they passed, or if they didn't, understand the root cause of the failure. This step alone could be the deciding factor as to whether or not your current plan is the right one.
The planning for a bond election can vary depending on your community and assessing the needs. It can take from as little as a couple of months to a year. If you set aside ample time to effectively plan, your chances of success are much greater.
Michael D. King AIA
No comments:
Post a Comment