MISSOULA — DeSmet School District is among those asking for a bond on the Nov. 7 ballot.
Residents within the DeSmet School District near the airport will vote on two bonds Tuesday, one for $280,000 and the other for $1,350,000. The money will be used to build a brand new track and field complex for students and the community.
The land across from the school, including two baseball fields, is currently owned by the county. If acquired, DeSmet School will restore the area, adding a full football and soccer field and track.
The second bond is dependent on the first, meaning if the school is not approved to purchase the land by voters, then the second bond is void.
The first bond would increase property taxes for residents within the district by $12.50 per year for a house valued at $500,000. The second bond would increase property taxes on the same house by $60.60 per year.
In total, if the track complex is approved, taxpayers within the DeSmet School District will pay about $73 more in annual property taxes.
DeSmet principal, Matt Driessen, says the school has worked to reduce its fiscal footprint in the years since the school’s remodel in 2018 by working with their own budget and the county’s claim on the district’s taxes.
“I think that's one thing that we always try to do out here is be fiscally responsible– be wise and prudent about how we're approaching the people who live out here for the things that we want to do,” Driessen says. “Everything we want to do is value-added not only for the school, but for the community. And this is one I think that is going to be a great value-added aspect to the entire community.”
The park will be modeled off of the track complex at Fort Missoula, according to Driessen. Currently, DeSmet students are running track on the roads surrounding the school, a safety risk Driessen no longer wants to see.
The complex is intended to be the new center of the community, Driessen says and will be open to the public outside of school hours.
“All of these things become a pretty nice complex to allow families to have a local area where they can have soccer games making games and their kids can have the baseball games, all of these pieces are there, you really do end up with an area where families can have a community center. Which was something that we didn't have.”
If approved, construction on the project will begin in spring 2024.
