To the Taxpayers and Citizens of the Center Independent School District: 

We want to take this opportunity to inform you that the Center ISD Board of Trustees and Administration have agreed not to build the Multi-Purpose Event Center that encompassed the largest element of our extra-curricular improvements portion of the 2018 Bond Election. This decision was not an easy one to make and has only resulted after extensive internal discussions, and meetings with the architects and the 

construction company. 

When seeking to pass the 2018 Bond Election, the District had been given an initial estimate of $6.5-$7 million to construct the Multi-Purpose Event Center facility. However, after the Bond Election passed and when the Multi-Purpose Event Center project was formally designed and then sent out for bid in January 2020, the bid came in with a price tag of about $9.2 million. The Design Team immediately began working with the architects to determine what cost-saving measures could be employed to bring the facility's cost in line with the initial estimate. Over the last 16 months, we were able to get the price down to $8.4 million with significant cuts to square footage and amenities; however, the current economic landscape has driven this cost back up to about $8.9 million. Yes, the price went back up with a smaller building! 

In an effort to salvage this project, we met with our Bond Attorney and our District's Financial Advisor to seek input on optional funding mechanisms. As a result of these meetings, we determined that for the District to build the facility as designed, we would have to take on additional debt, over and above the available Bond funds, in the form of a Maintenance Tax Note and a Time Warrant for an estimated combined amount of at least $2 million. 

With the price of steel and other construction materials sky-rocketing, as well as our belief that State funding of the schools will likely be cut as a result of the pandemic's effects on our economy, it is the determination of the Board of Trustees and the Administration that it is not in the best interest of the Center Independent School District and Center ISD taxpayers to not take on the additional debt required to complete the Multi-Purpose Event Center. Many of you will be disappointed with this news, and we fully believe this is a facility that we need. Should construction costs return to normal and should the uncertainty surrounding the funding of schools by the State of Texas be alleviated, we can revisit the construction of the Multi-Purpose Event Center in the future. 

We appreciate the support that each of you demonstrated for students when this Bond Election passed in 

2018. Unfortunately, no one could have predicted a global pandemic and what that would do to the economy, the availability of State funding, or costs of construction.