North Dakota Oil Boom Drives School Tax and Bond Request

CHICAGO -- The school board in Minot, N.D., grappling with a spike in enrollment from the state’s historic oil boom, will ask voters in a special election this year to approve a $125 million borrowing, the largest in its history.

The district would use the proceeds for a new elementary school and a second high school as well as additions and renovations of current schools, according to local reports. The district is currently using portable classrooms to accommodate recent growth. Officials said they will run out of space in the middle school if growth continues.

“The long and the short of it is the numbers keep going up and up and up,” Minot Public School District Superintendent Mark Vollmer told the Minot Daily News.

Minot is also continuing to rebuild from major floods in the summer of 2010, in which it lost three schools.

The city will hold the special election Dec. 10. Voters will also be asked to consider a 5% increase on the district’s debt limit, beyond the current 5% established by the state constitution.

The bond issue would cost the owner of a $200,000 home an additional $456 a year in property taxes.

The Minot International Airport, meanwhile, is in the midst of securing funding for a new commercial terminal to accommodate its own growth. The terminal is expected to cost around $41 million, with revenue bonds being issued for a portion of the cost.

North Dakota is in the midst of the largest oil boom in its history due to the Bakken oil patch in the western part of the state.

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North Dakota
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