AUBURN - After nearly a month of combing through construction items line-by-line, the Auburn Enlarged City School District is one step closer to asking voters to approve an estimated $16.7 million capital project.
The district's Long Range Planning Committee agreed Wednesday to bring the project before the full board of education during its Sept. 22 meeting. If the board approves the project, it could go to the voters for approval as soon as Dec. 1, with construction scheduled to begin in the summer of 2010 and continue through 2011.
The project includes repairs, renovations and infrastructure upgrades to the district's five elementary schools, both middle schools, the high school and the Harriet Tubman Administrative Building.
“This is a necessity, not a wish list,” committee Chair and board Vice President Sam Giangreco said, referring to the project's items. “We have cut a lot of things out, there is no fat in here. These are a necessity to maintain the integrity of the schools and health and services for the students.”
While the members toured each school and trimmed out items that were deemed to be unnecessary in order to lower the project's final cost, the total price remained relatively unchanged after the members found new issues that needed to be addressed.
The project includes plans to install new energy efficient lights, replace outdated water fixtures, replace old and inefficient windows, upgrade fire alarms and security systems, repair degraded concrete structures such as ramps walls and sidewalks, repair or upgrade portions of Holland Stadium and renovate the athletic fields.
If the school uses $520,000 that it has saved in reserve funding, Bernard Donegan, the district's financial advisor, said a home owner with a STAR exempt house valued at $100,000 would pay an additional $11 per year for 15 years in property taxes to cover the cost of the project.
An owner without a STAR exemption would pay an extra $16 a year and seniors would pay $7 a year for 15 years.
The committee also examined using $1 million in reserve funding to offset project costs, but Donegan estimated the additional $480,000 would reduce the tax rate by $1 with a STAR exempt homeowner paying $10 a year for 15 years.
If voters approve the project, more than 87 percent of the costs will be refunded by the state with residents picking up the final 13 percent, Donegan said.
Superintendent J.D. Pabis said the district should also examine setting aside money each year to replace money taken out of the reserve fund to ensure that it is never empty, an idea several other committee members agreed with.
“We don't want to dry (the reserve fund) up,” Pabis said. “We always want to keep something in it. We always want seed money for another project in the future.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
The project includes repairs, renovations and infrastructure upgrades to the district's five elementary schools, both middle schools, the high school and the Harriet Tubman Administrative Building.
“This is a necessity, not a wish list,” committee Chair and board Vice President Sam Giangreco said, referring to the project's items. “We have cut a lot of things out, there is no fat in here. These are a necessity to maintain the integrity of the schools and health and services for the students.”
While the members toured each school and trimmed out items that were deemed to be unnecessary in order to lower the project's final cost, the total price remained relatively unchanged after the members found new issues that needed to be addressed.
The project includes plans to install new energy efficient lights, replace outdated water fixtures, replace old and inefficient windows, upgrade fire alarms and security systems, repair degraded concrete structures such as ramps walls and sidewalks, repair or upgrade portions of Holland Stadium and renovate the athletic fields.
If the school uses $520,000 that it has saved in reserve funding, Bernard Donegan, the district's financial advisor, said a home owner with a STAR exempt house valued at $100,000 would pay an additional $11 per year for 15 years in property taxes to cover the cost of the project.
An owner without a STAR exemption would pay an extra $16 a year and seniors would pay $7 a year for 15 years.
The committee also examined using $1 million in reserve funding to offset project costs, but Donegan estimated the additional $480,000 would reduce the tax rate by $1 with a STAR exempt homeowner paying $10 a year for 15 years.
If voters approve the project, more than 87 percent of the costs will be refunded by the state with residents picking up the final 13 percent, Donegan said.
Superintendent J.D. Pabis said the district should also examine setting aside money each year to replace money taken out of the reserve fund to ensure that it is never empty, an idea several other committee members agreed with.
“We don't want to dry (the reserve fund) up,” Pabis said. “We always want to keep something in it. We always want seed money for another project in the future.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
Citizen
Hot Jobs
Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are 8 comment(s)
jlmorgansr wrote on Sep 10, 2009 8:52 PM:
communitymember wrote on Sep 10, 2009 8:04 PM:
balboa wrote on Sep 10, 2009 2:29 PM:
whybother wrote on Sep 10, 2009 1:10 PM:
cheeko wrote on Sep 10, 2009 12:26 PM:
auburn~sucks wrote on Sep 10, 2009 9:58 AM:
stick wrote on Sep 10, 2009 9:28 AM:
THE PLANNING COMMITTEE. "
jlmorgansr wrote on Sep 10, 2009 7:23 AM:
I simply got giddy as I read how little this was going to cost us taxpayers with the STAR applied to the payment, jeepers, for the next 15 years you would be doing us a favor by allowing us to make these reduced payments. Then you sum it all up with your last comment,“We don't want to dry (the reserve fund) up,” Pabis said. “We always want to keep something in it. We always want seed money for another project in the future. More money for future multi million dollar projects? Yes folks, this is just the tip of the ice berg, our economy doesn't play into his long range planning committee. Our tax burdens doesn't play into his spending plans. Lets just keep on socking it away and spending it for decades into the future. This is the plan JD Pabis has for his long range planning committee. "