Building reserve levy failure to pass on May 6 could cost sports, arts, music and a teacher for Ennis Schools

On March 12 the Ennis school board was forced to make a grave decision and approve the application for a $1.5 million loan at 5% interest from Madison Valley Bank to start the process of replacing the roof over the summer and ensure the school will stay functional into the 2025-2026 school year. While the loan is not yet finalized, the staff at the school and Madison Valley Bank are putting the details in place. 

The decision created seemingly dire consequences to the school if the May 6 building reserve levy does not get enough votes to pass. 

“We’re playing Russian roulette with our roof right now,” said Ennis Schools superintendent Jared Moretti.

The trustees approved the loan with great reservations and trepidation knowing that if they didn’t, the school could be shuttered all together. 

“No matter what term we pick, it's a pretty big risk,” said trustee Laura Blake.

“I don’t like this either,” said trustee Dino Fanelli. “I’ll double that. It sucks, but this is where we’re at.”

The board unanimously approved a six year term for the loan which will result in a $292,000 annual payment and considerable cuts for the district if the building maintenance mill levy does not pass in the May 6 election. The term provides a difficult repayment schedule according to Moretti if the levy doesn’t pass, but helps to balance out the other urgent needs of the facilities that will not be able to be attended to during the time the school is repaying the loan. He went on to discuss the potential of the May 6 mill levy not passing. 

“I’m not trying to make threats and I’m not trying to scare people, but trying to make a $292,000  loan payment is significant for the district,” said Moretti. “If this levy doesn’t pass, that's going to have a significant impact on the programs and what our school district is able to provide for students.”

“There isn’t anything that we are able to do that doesn’t impact the students in some shape or some form. We will try to limit it, but this will impact students.”

“There are a lot of things on the table. We’re open to ideas, we’re willing to sit down and listen. We talked a lot about this with the staff and we talked about what is the primary mission of the school so we looked at some items that might not align with that.” 

Moretti then referenced pages in the proposal outlining the total activities stipend of $121,395 a year and the associated transportation costs of $51,097 a year. The proposal also outlined additional programs including Colt Club, the Friday Program, Zero Hour, staff incentives and overtime that totaled $45,537 in expenditures. 

“If you were to eliminate wrestling, softball, golf and cross country, those were the last four sports added, so they could be the first four sports out, That’s a little over $20,000. All of the travel for those programs is $18,000.”

“If we don’t replace our retiring teacher, that is $83,000 that we could save right there,” he continued. 

If we do all of these items, you can see that we save $215,752 a year. The minimum payment that we have for an eight year loan is $230,000.” He said. 

“I think we can put everything on the table,” he stated when referencing district assets including land. “Any decision we make is going to have consequences down the road. What are the needs of the school district going to be in 20 or 25 years? I don’t know.” 

All cuts made must be approved by the board of trustees and Moretti indicated in the document that the staff will be forming a committee to recommend cuts to ensure the district can service the loan if the building reserve levy does not pass.  

The levy being presented to voters at the May 6 election will raise $7 million over two years and will only be applied towards facility maintenance. The roof replacement, scheduled for the first year, will cost $1,440,000. The first year will also include monies for the repair of the boilers, water softening system, industrial water heater replacement, server room condenser units and the glycol system. 

The funds raised in the second year of the levy will be used for repairs to the HVAC units, air separators, fire alarm system, fire sprinkler repairs, additional water heaters, LED lighting upgrades, exhaust fan filters and heaters throughout the facility according to the documents presented. 

“This is a lot of money,” Moretti states. “One of the big responsibilities I feel with all of this is we need to be good stewards of your money. This is not for luxury items or anything like that. This is for items that we need to have in order for us to remain open for kids to come in and receive the quality education they deserve.”

“This money is going to be used to take care of what we have,” he continued. “Get it up to where it should be and then be able to maintain and keep that going for our kids.”

According to the documentation provided by Moretti to the board of trustees, the levy will result in an increase in property taxes of $86.10 per year on a home valued at $600,000. Moretti breaks that down to $7.18 per month. 

“Really everyone in this town wants to see this school here,” said Amanda Harris who is heading up an outreach group to help encourage the public to pass the levy. “This isn’t about new football fields, new locker rooms or the things that generated bad press last time. This is literally about preserving our culture.” 

“The big question is going to be ‘How did we get here?’” she continued.  “Anyone on the street is going to wonder how this got so dire. There’s a story of how we got here, but also where we’re going. What this really is is a preservation effort.” 

Voters in the Ennis School District will be able to turn in ballots starting April 18 for the May 6 election.