To handle a rapidly growing student population, Avon's Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night to put a $32 million levy on the November ballot to build a new middle school. 

If passed, the 2.25-mill levy would run for 32 years and would cost homeowners an additional $68.92 per year for every $100,000 in valuation, Avon schools treasurer Kent Zeman said. 

However, since the district will pay off a 20-year bond issue in 2014 that was used to finance an addition to Avon High School, Zeman said the debt can be restructured in such a way that taxpayers will never have to pay more than 1.25 mills of the proposed middle school levy. 

“Superintendent Jim Reitenbach and I had the opportunity to sit down with (Lorain County Auditor) Mark Stewart, and explain to him the bond issuance and the way we’re going to finance the debt,” he said. “And we’ve gotten some more information back from the underwriters that we will, indeed, only need to assess 1.25 (mills), which is only $38.29 per year on a $100,000 home.” 

The average value of an Avon home is about $230,000. With that average, the levy would cost homeowners an additional $88.07 per year over the next 32 years. 

In the coming weeks, Avon Board of Education interim president Kevin Romanchok said the district’s levy committee will publish information to educate the public further on the calculations and breakdowns of the levy. 

If it passes in the fall, construction on the middle school would begin in 2012, and would be completed in time for the 2014-15 school year, Reitenbach said.

Over the next several months, the board will hold meetings with architects, contractors and the Building and Infrastructure subcommittee established under the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan to draw up and finalize the design plans, he said. 

School district officials opted to build a new school versus renovating the old Avon Middle School because building consultants had determined it would cost more than $20 million to renovate the 60-year-old structure. 

The school would be built on property the school owns on Long Road.