Voters in the Chapel Hill school district likely will consider a third multimillion-dollar school bond in three years this May.

The Chapel Hill school board is expected to place a $45 million bond package on May ballots during a special meeting at 8 p.m. Monday at the Chapel Hill Administration Building, 11134 County Road 2249, across from the high school/middle school campus.

Board members and administrators believe the bond package would address community priorities, specifically what they consider an inadequate middle school campus. However, two smaller bond packages were defeated the past two years.

A $21 million bond in November 2014 was rejected, with 523 votes, or 61.9 percent of voters casting ballots against the measure and 322 residents (38.1 percent) voting in favor. In May 2013, voters defeated a $31.2 million bond, with 1,054, or 63 percent, voting against and 619 votes, or 37 percent, in favor.

The bond package includes building a new middle school on a new campus and renovating the current middle school to accommodate expansion of high school programs, including Career and Technical Education.

The proposal also includes renovating the oldest sections of the Jackson Elementary Building and retrofitting various areas at other campuses throughout the district.

The new middle school is estimated to cost $40 million, according to the bond proposal. About $3.5 million is dedicated to a new operations facility and $1.7 million toward renovations at Jackson Elementary.

If the bond passes, the tax rate would increase at least 14.9 cents to $1.39 per $100 valuation from $1.24 per $100. The average Chapel Hill home, $135,112, would see an annual increase of $201.31, if the district gets a 3.75 percent interest rate.

Chapel Hill School Board President Ronnie Williams said there has been support and there have been questions regarding the bond. But he said no one has questioned the need for a new middle school.

“I think there’s unanimous opinion on the board to call the bond, that it’s something we need,” Williams said.

Tammy Humes has four children who have been through the Chapel Hill system. She now has a fourth-grader in school.

She’s seen the inadequacies at the middle school and said addressing the middle school is a “no-brainer” but that the details of the bond, from square-foot costs, location and layout, would determine whether she would support it.

Mrs. Humes worries the district is underselling its current debt — $30.5 million with principal and interest — and overselling the May bond as the best answer to the district’s present facility needs. She said she hopes the bond is vetted properly by interested parents because the “devil is in the details.”

“I see the traffic mess and line going up the drive. It’s not like I won’t be in the middle of it,” she said. “I just wish (the school board) could give us more info about what they’re thinking.”

Superintendent Donni Cook said the district is excited the bond could be going before voters in May. She said the past failures didn’t erase the need and that the board, administration, teachers, students and majority of parents are “excited.”

“I’m anxious,” she said. “My biggest hope is that the community seeks out facts and questions what the bond will include. It’s a community responsibility. We’re here to answer the questions before and after the election.”