Weimar ISD Asks for $15 Million After Reversing Course on Historic Grandstands

This is a preview. Weimar ISD voters decide these questions on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and no results are in yet.

Weimar ISD is asking voters on Tuesday for $15 million in two bond propositions. The district says it can repay them without raising its tax rate. It also changed its plans after residents objected to tearing down the old grandstands at Veterans Park.

What is on the ballot

The board's election order, signed Aug. 10, 2026, by Board President Steve Williams, lists two propositions. Each carries the words "THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE," as state law requires.

Proposition A, $12 million: school buildings, including elementary and high school renovations, parking lot and student drop-off improvements, gymnasium improvements, a band hall and career and technical education building improvements.

Proposition B, $3 million: athletic stadium facilities, including football, baseball and softball stadium improvements.

The Colorado County Citizen reported Oct. 22 on the details the district has shared. Under Proposition A, a new gym would have its own concessions and restrooms and connect to the current gym by a covered walkway. The old gym would become practice space. A new secondary band space would attach to the current band hall. The career and technical building would get a student-run storefront, a renovated kitchen with five cooking stations, a health science lab, a floral design classroom and a new welding shop with six roll-up doors. Both campuses would get security vestibules like the junior high's. A new access road from Sedan Road would serve the junior high area, and the elementary's covered drop-off would double in length.

Under Proposition B, Wildcat Stadium would get six new rows of bleachers on the home side, with the press box moved above them. The softball complex would also be improved. Veterans Park and Strickland Field would get a covered facility with turf batting cages, bullpens and lighting, plus storage and new backstop netting.

Superintendent Chase Seelke told the paper the renderings are conceptual. If the bonds pass, the district would begin design with SZS Architecture and hold more community meetings. He said he does not know how the district would adjust if either proposition fails.

St. Michael's Catholic Church in Weimar, photographed in April 2007. Photo: Preiselbeere / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 de.

The grandstands

The district's first plan for Veterans Park called for replacing the grandstands with new stadium-style seating, according to the Citizen. Three days after posting those plans on Facebook, the district archived the post and changed course. "We have heard you, and we are going back to the drawing board with a renewed focus on preserving the historic grandstands at Veterans Park," the district said in a statement quoted by the paper. It said it would keep the original structure and replace deteriorated boards, repair and update railings, repaint and handle other maintenance and safety needs.

Seelke said the issue had not come up during planning, but the strong response in one direction made the decision easy.

The cost

The district's voter information documents, attached to the order, estimate the cost over 30 years:

• Proposition A: $12,000,000 principal plus $13,699,458.33 in estimated interest, for $25,699,458.33. The estimate assumes a 4.76% interest rate.

• Proposition B: $3,000,000 principal plus $3,364,592.80 in estimated interest, for $6,364,592.80, at an assumed 4.8%.

By our own math, the two would cost about $32.1 million to repay, including about $17.1 million in interest. That is roughly $1.14 in interest for every dollar borrowed. The order separately estimates a maximum net effective interest rate of 5.50%, based on market conditions when it was adopted.

The district already owes $11,065,000 in principal and $4,047,250 in interest on earlier debt, and its debt service tax rate is $0.202 per $100 of value. For each proposition, the documents estimate the maximum annual tax increase on a $100,000 homestead at $0.00. That figure rests on the district's assumptions, including appraised values rising 3.5% a year for the first five years "and then twenty percent in the tenth year." If values grow more slowly, the picture could change.

"We wanted to prioritize a bond that was a no tax increase," Seelke told the Citizen. He said the district figured that number first, then "worked backwards" to see which priorities it could afford.

How to vote

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Under the order and the district's notice of election, Colorado County voters may use any county vote center, including Weimar City Hall, 106 E. Main St., the Colorado County Election Center in Columbus, the Eagle Lake Community Center, the Nada Community Center and the Frelsburg VFD. District voters who live in Lavaca or Fayette counties vote at their assigned precincts listed in the notice.

Other districts have taken bonds to voters this fall, including Crosby ISD and Irving ISD.

Our view

Weimar ISD did something public bodies do not always do: it listened. When residents spoke up for the old grandstands, the district changed its plan within days. That is how a small town should work.

Voters should still read the fine print. "No tax rate increase" is not the same as no new debt. These bonds would cost about $32 million over 30 years, and the $0 estimate depends on values rising as the district hopes. A gym, a band hall and a welding shop are real needs for real students. Voters should weigh them honestly, as stewards of their neighbors' money, and decide.