A final effort is on by a Columbia Falls political action committee to get the word out on the $75.9 million high school bond remodel.

Ballots were expected to be mailed Sept. 9 to eligible Columbia Falls School District voters and will be due Sept. 29.

The bond, if passed, will completely remodel the more than 60-year-old high school including the gym, the Little Theater, the walls, the infrastructure and the entrances, making it a more secure building.

The art department will also be incorporated into the new building and the parking lot will be rebuilt. The administrative offices near the old junior high could also see some remodeling, as they will likely be used as classrooms for students who are displaced by the remodel, Superintendent Cory Dziowgo confirmed last week.

“The way the bond question is worded, it allows for proceeds to be used for the displacement of students. Our plan is to look at using the administration office for student use while displaced. Funds from the bond could be used to remodel the admin building for that use,” he said in an email to the Hungry Horse News.

Sarah Day is one of the members of the Yes4CFHS political action committee doing community outreach on the project.

“Right now we’re doing the big push,” she said last week. “Getting out and talking to voters.”

They recently were at the community dinner in Hungry Horse and were rallying outside the football game for the bond last Friday night.

As a political action committee, they can’t rally on school grounds, but they can lobby at any other public venue.

They’ve also taken the message to Instagram and Facebook.

Day said one of the main questions is why not build a new school? The answer, she noted, is a new school would cost about twice as much as a remodel, and it would have to be built down the hill from the existing school, either at or close to where the football field is today.

The school, separately, is holding informational meetings up until the ballots are due, with a meeting at noon on Sept. 14 at the district offices and another at 6 p.m., Sept. 22 at the high school as well.

Day said the reception the project has been getting has been positive, particularly after the first request for $84.4 million failed last November.

“People have access to a lot more information this time,” she said.

The tax impact of the project was also recently lowered. Due to the latest boost in valuation, a $600,000 home would see a tax impact of about $320 annually. Before the latest valuation, the estimate was more than $400.

In addition, changes in state tax law have meant reduced tax bills for primary homeowners.

Due to changes in state property tax laws passed in the last legislative session and a 27% increase in the district’s valuation, a home assessed for $600,000 should see a tax bill reduction from $1,148 to about $674. 

“This decrease of $474 annually, or 41% reduction would more than pay for the proposed high school bond levy,” District Clerk Dustin Zuffelato noted in a report to the school board on Aug. 17.

People can learn more about the remodel at www.yes4cfhs.com.