by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
While financing for the purchase of Colts Academy is moving forward, at least one hiccup in the project has surfaced.
At the June 15 St. Joseph City Council meeting, council member Bob Loso requested city staff hire an inspector to go through the building and ensure all asbestos had been removed and to look for other possible issues, which the other council members agreed with.
The inspection has been completed, and some asbestos was found in a mechanical room at the school. After some discussion, the council decided to slow down the purchase while staff works with the district to fix the issue.
The roof of the school may need work in the near future as well, which is another concern of some of the council members.
Mayor Rick Schultz said the council plans to do a walk-through of Colts once some other issues are settled, and would like to host an open house for the community at the building sometime in July.
A purchase agreement was signed on June 15 by the city to purchase Colts from the school district. The council did choose to use tax abatement to purchase Colts, meaning taxes on 13 properties in town, totaling $134,000/year, will be used to pay for Colts during approximately the next 15-20 years. Those taxes would normally go to the general fund, but instead half-cent sales-tax money would be used to fill the gap in the general fund. This would use up about half of the half-cent sales-tax per year for the years it would be active.
