The top proposition on the ballot, at $37.2 million, is for the money the school district says it needs to complete a $68.4 million renovation of the south-side high school.
Voters in 2009, as the recession picked up steam, rejected an earlier proposition to do the same work.
"Other high schools got their renovations done," said former Anchorage Assemblyman Charles Wohlforth, co-chairman of the group School Bonds Yes. "Service has really unfairly been left behind" because it happened to be last in line.
This year, some key conditions have changed from 2009. The economy is better. The district won a $21.3 million state grant for part of the project and found $10 million in already approved but unused bond funds it could redirect, so the total Service bond request is smaller than it was then.
Backers hope those changes are enough to get it passed.
The Service High proposal is among three school bond propositions totaling $71 million. The ballot also includes a $31 million road proposition and four smaller proposals for parks, public safety and transit projects.
The size of the Service project and the fact that it includes a 700-seat auditorium still makes it controversial with some.
For example, Anchorage Assembly candidate Liz Vazquez said during a public TV and radio forum Monday that because the total cost is so high she wants to study the project further to see if it's really needed.
"I'm supporting the Service High bond but not enthusiastically because of the auditorium," said Bob Griffin, a school board candidate.
The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce board of directors supports all three school bond proposals, pointing out that they are aimed at renovating and maintaining current facilities, and all qualify for significant state reimbursement.
School Bonds Yes raised about $36,000 to promote the bonds, Wohlforth said. Among the biggest contributors is the Service High PTA, which donated $5,000.
The overall Service project includes:
• A new, small, auxiliary gym to be built in empty courtyard space. It replaces an old, small, free-standing gym behind the school that hasn't worked well because it is away from locker rooms and the rest of the physical education program, said Mike Abbott, assistant school superintendent for facilities.
• Technical and vocational classrooms.
• A special education area.
• Administrative, dining and food areas.
• Traffic and parking improvements.
• The auditorium.
The school needs an auditorium because the district doesn't have one that seats more than 200 people south of Northern Lights Boulevard, Abbott said.
Service students have to travel to East High to produce and attend larger events, and they don't get the same range of performing arts classes available at schools with big auditoriums, Abbott said.
Plus, Wohlforth said, a large share of Anchorage's population lives in South Anchorage. Voters are only being asked to finance a fraction of the total cost of the project, he said, with money already available and the fact that the state will reimburse the city for $16.8 million of the new debt.
That leaves $20.3 million of the $37.1 million in new bond money for voters to pay off.
The proposal will result in an annual property tax increase of $15.57 for the owner of a $300,000 house.
Reach Rosemary Shinohara at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.