Sulphur stadium should be redone by 2015 football season
Published 3:53 am Monday, November 18, 2013
Officials are expecting to have a new stadium at Sulphur High School by the 2015 football season after voters on Saturday approved $8 million worth of 20-year bonds to finance the work.
Calcasieu Parish School Board member Joe Andrepont said this “big victory” will go toward the betterment of the Sulphur community, considering the last major improvements to the existing stadium was nearly 45 years ago.
A series of meetings to draw up the official plans will begin after the school board ratifies the election results in December.
The item was passed by a vote of 1,686-796, or 68 percent in favor, with a 12 percent voter turnout. The proposition failed in May by two votes with a 6 percent voter turnout.
“We were pleased with the turnout this time,” Andrepont said. “It was twice the turnout. We really made an effort to remind voters in Bond District 30 to get out early and vote. They responded, and we were averaging over 100 voters a day for early voting.”
Andrepont also wanted to thank Friends of Sulphur High School who raised money to promote the bond issue.
“The taxpayers and voters recognized that we needed a new stadium,” he said.
The improvements will include the demolition and rebuilding of the home and visitor grandstands. Rest rooms will also be renovated and expanded.
Other general renovations will include the fire alarm system as well as the sound system and fencing around the stadium.
By voting to allow the school district to issue the bonds, voters also approved a 1.87-mill property tax that will be used to pay for the bonds.
Voters rejected levying a 10-year, 5-mill tax in School District 34 with a vote of 742-697, or 48 percent in favor and 52 percent against, with a 5.6 percent voter turnout. The school maintenance tax would have been used for Barbe Elementary, Barbe High, College Oaks Elementary, Dolby Elementary, Nelson Elementary, Prien Lake Elementary, St. John Elementary and S.J. Welsh Middle.
Improvements for the schools would have included the acquisition of equipment and furnishings, as well as building improvements.
(American Press Archives)
