MENIFEE - Voters living in the Menifee Union School District will determine whether it should issue bonds to raise $31.4 million for school construction, board members decided Tuesday.

The issue would cover about half the cost of building three schools to cope with climbing enrollment in the district.

Menifee Union's board voted 5-0 to put the bond measure on the ballot for the Feb. 5 election.

Leaders of the district want to build an elementary campus near Canyon Lake, another on the south side of Menifee, and a middle school in northern Sun City.

Each elementary school is estimated to cost $25 million and the middle school is estimated at $40 million. Developer fees and state funds will be used to cover the rest of the cost, Menifee Assistant Superintendent Dan Wood has said previously.

If the bond measure passes, annual property tax bills for homeowners in the district would rise by $17.90 per $100,000 in assessed valuation on their homes, Wood explained to the board. The tax bill for a typical home with an assessed value of $300,000 would rise by $53.70. Assessed valuation is not the same as the market value of a home. In most cases, the assessed valuation is at or near what a buyer paid for a house.

Prior to the vote, board member Victor Giardinelli asked if the ballot language would include the estimated cost to homeowners.

"That's the bottom line for them: What is the price to them?" Giardinelli said.

Wood said that information would be noted in the arguments in favor of the bond. Prepared by district officials, arguments for and against the bond would be part of the information the county registrar of voters office mails to voters well in advance of the election.

Passage of the $31.4 million bond also means homeowners will be paying the $17.90 per $100,000 on top of $5.48 per $100,000 in assessed valuation homeowners are being charged to pay off a $14 million bond voters approved in 2002.

District officials originally estimated that the $14 million bond would cost taxpayers $22 per $100,000 in assessed valuation. However, because the community grew quickly and housing prices rose significantly, officials were able to greatly reduce the cost to taxpayers. That bond was used to pay for construction of new schools, including Evans Ranch and Oak Meadows elementaries, plus additions to older campuses, including Ridgemoor Elementary.

During the last two years, the district's enrollment grew by more than 14 percent, according to Wood. As of last week, the district's enrollment was 8,806, compared to 8,365 at this time last year.

Several thousand new homes are expected to be built in communities served by Menifee Union during the next several years, Wood said.

In Menifee, Centex Homes is building a housing subdivision just east of Menifee Road. As many as 1,100 homes are planned for that subdivision.

Near Newport Road in Menifee, about 2,200 homes are under construction as part of Audie Murphy Ranch, which is being developed by Woodside Homes and Brookfield Homes.

And in eastern Lake Elsinore, Pardee Homes is planning to construct 4,000 homes in the Cottonwood Canyon subdivision.

Contact staff writer Lorell Fleming at lfleming@californian.com.