PONTIAC -- District leaders hope voters see the need for $12.5 million in repairs to Pontiac Township High School.

A February referendum will seek a 26-cent increase in the district's tax rate, to $2.49. If approved, the hike would increase taxes by $130, to $200, for the owner of a $150,000 home.

"We realize that these are tough economic times, but there are some things that you got to do," said Superintendent Leo Johnson.

The referendum would request approval for $7.5 million in bonds for work next summer. The balance of the $12.4 million project would be covered by new revenue from property taxes paid by wind farm developers, utilizing the city's tax increment financing program and other methods.

The increase would raise the current tax rate of $2.23, with the increase taking effect in summer 2010.

The project would replace the home bleachers and press box at Williamson Field, complete a lighting project and replace boilers with a geothermal system.

Johnson said the bleachers need annual repairs and don't comply with handicapped accessibility rules. They're also unsafe, because boards continue to break, Johnson said.

The building's two 45-year-old boilers run at 50 percent efficiency. A geothermal system would extract heat stored in the earth.

"In some of the rooms it would make a significant difference, and on the other hand one of the most significant benefits of geothermal system is the quality of the air and the efficiency of the system," said Principal Jon Kilgore. "The cooling element would also be significant."

The wording of the referendum says the district has "insufficient funds on hand and available to pay the costs of the project."

The district has a surplus of $225,000 in its 2010 project budget but the actual budget has a $970,000 deficit from $1.2 million borrowed last year.

Last year's projects included rebuilding the visitor bleachers and the first part of the lighting system. The money will be paid back with a long-term, low-interest bank loan.