(Radio Iowa) – A wide variety of bond issues are being presented in next Tuesday’s city-school elections in Iowa. According to an Iowans for Tax Relief analysis, over one-point-seven BILLION dollars in borrowing for bonds will be decided by voters. Sarah Curry is the research director for Iowans for Tax Relief.  “When I did this project last March when we had bond elections it was not nearly that high,” Curry says, “so I was actually shocked at how much money local governments were asking for.” Curry contacted every one of Iowa’s county auditors and learned there will be bond questions on the ballots in 50 counties.

Thirty-four school districts are seeking approval to borrow for projects. “We’re not taking a specific stance on any one of the bonds because we’re not living in those communities and we don’t know what the needs are of that community,” Curry says. “We did launch our new website which is IPRlocal.org and so that is more robust than the previous version and it has a breakdown of what school districts and cities and counties are spending their money on and what their property taxes are and their enrollment or population growth so that voters can be more informed.” Most of the borrowing or bonds being requested are for school infrastructure.

“Over $1.2 billion are for schools,” Curry says. “Only $18 million are for cities.” The remaining bond issues are for counties. The largest is in Polk County, where voters are being asked to approve 350-million dollars in borrowing to help fund construction of a new Des Moines Airport terminal and expand the security checkpoint as well as check-in and baggage claim areas.

Airport officials say using county-issued bonds will save money and lead to a quicker repayment of those bonds. The bulk of the airport expansion project is being financed by other means, including airport reserve funds as well as grants from the State of Iowa and the federal government.