Here are the highlights of the sale of Maplewood Grade School in Cary from School Board President Scott Coffey:
Maplewood School Sold
The property is located downtown about 800 feet from the train station.
The school was closed in 2010, but the district still utilizes a portion of the property for it transportation operations.
The Board’s intent, since its closure, has always been to get the property onto the tax rolls.
Currently, the district spends roughly $75K per year at Maplewood for ongoing maintenance, repairs, vandalism, utilities, etc.
If the district were to demolish the building itself, it would cost around $750K for demo work/asbestos abatement/etc. plus construction costs to bring utilities directly to the remaining transportation office and maintenance garage.
The $2.5 million in proceeds will be used to build a replacement transportation center on another district property.
The key to the transaction is the incremental property tax revenue generated by the new development.
I would anticipate that revenue to be recognized by all relevant taxing bodies to be roughly $600K to $700K annually.
The D-26 portion would be about $200K-$250K per year, assuming the Board captures the new growth in its levy.
Combining the incremental property tax revenue along with the elimination of the current maintenance costs and some bus fuel savings from operating from a new location, the district is looking at a favorable impact to its annual operating budget of over $300K annually.
Given the future financial pressures I expect to continue to come from the State on school funding, increased pension costs, levy freezes, etc., this favorable impact may provide future Boards with the flexibility to more effectively respond to these financial pressures.
Were the baseball fields included in the sale?
Yes. The entire property.
The Maplewood fields are 6 of the 14 fields (43%) used by the Cary Grove Youth Baseball & Softball Association.
If the property sold for $2.5M, how does one figure that will result in “revenue to be recognized by all relevant taxing bodies to be roughly $600K to $700K annually?
I would think that once the property is back on the tax rolls that the assessed value would be in the neighborhood of $800K resulting in total real estate taxes of $85-90K of which about $50-55K would go to Districts 26 and 155.
Cary Grove and the JH fields are under used.
Jim,
I indicated that the $700K-$600K in incremental tax revenue was to be generated from the completed development, not just the vacant land.
What kind of taxes, only real estate taxes benefit “relevant taxing bodies” whereas sales tax only benefits the local municipality?
Every tax payer in the school district has been supporting the private, nonprofit baseball club’s use of the fields at a subsidized rate, even though not even a fraction of the taxpayers belong to that club.
You’d think that the club would be grateful for six decades of subsidies rather than complaining that the gravy train has pulled into the final station.