SEGUIN, Texas – One of two Jumbotrons has already been installed at Seguin Independent School District's Matador Stadium, but the district has yet to designate where the $1.35 million to pay for the scoreboard system is coming from.
Newly elected trustees for the school board didn't want a vote regarding the authorization of the issuance of maintenance tax notes to take place before they are sworn into office Friday.
Tuesday night's board meeting, which was scheduled for 6:30 p.m., was canceled just before 5 p.m. as a result of a lawsuit and application for a temporary restraining order filed against the district by the newly elected board members, a district spokesman said.
An emailed statement said:
"Seguin ISD eagerly awaits the opportunity to work with the new board members and to present them with facts so they may have the ability to serve their community with all relevant information needed to make decisions in the best interest of the district and its students."
On Friday, Seguin ISD's Board of Trustees will look a lot different. Four of the seven districts will have new trustees as a result of the Nov. 8 election.
Cinde Thomas-Jimenez is replacing District 3 Trustee Craig Thomas and Ben Amador is replacing District 6 Trustee Louis Reyes.
"We're going to be stuck with whatever bills they wrote," Amador said. "We have no idea how much money is in the checking account."
Thomas-Jimenez explained maintenance tax notes is essentially a loan that would be paid out over time. However, without the newly elected trustees being able to see the terms, they wouldn't know the length of the loan or what the interest rate will be. Thomas-Jimenez believes if it were to pass, the district would end up paying more than $1.35 million in the long run for the scoreboard system.
Superintendent Stetson Roane previously told KSAT 12 the system should pay for itself through marketing.
District spokesman Sean Hoffmann said the district could choose to use the general fund balance to pay for the system, but a loan such as a maintenance tax note would minimize the impact to the fund balance, and the initial payment of the note wouldn't be due until the year 2020.
It is anticipated that between now and the time of that initial payment the district will execute marketing contracts sufficient to cover the annual debt payment of approximately $80,000, Hoffmann said. By doing so, the district would be able to avoid ever using fund balance or any dollars generated through tax collections to purchase the scoreboard.
Hoffmann said money for the scoreboard will either come from maintenance tax notes, advertising revenue and/or the fund balance, or a combination of the three options.