The Perry Community School District Board of Education met in a special working session Thursday and managed to prioritize a list of needed or potentially necessary facility upgrades as part of a three-year plan.
Superintendent Clark Wicks said at the outset he hoped the board would create a list for calendar year 2018 that would not exceed $300,000 in costs. The board did just that in its 90-minute meeting, establishing their top six priorities choices with a combined cost of $258,000.
Wicks said money to pay for the projects will not come from the general fund, which currently faces a $650,00 deficit. All money for the facilities projects come from a combination of the statewide penny tax for infrastructure and from the physical plant and equipment levy (PPEL).
The board put the highest priority on an $86,000 LED lighting project for the high school. The project’s urgency was an $18,000 rebate if the work is done in time. The rebate dollars would be returned to the general fund.
During the board’s discussion, it was noted the high school bears by far the greatest cost of a LED upgrade, with estimates of $51,000 given for the middle school and of $39,000 for the elementary.
While discussing which items to push forward, the board made their calculations knowing that $6.6 million in general obligation bonds would be paid off by June 2019.
When asked by ThePerryNews.com how this would translate into savings, Board Treasurer Kent Bultman said it would amount to more than $2 per thousand on property taxes.
The board also gave priority to:
- $10,000 for assessment of the electrical and wiring needs at the middle school,
- $50,000 on needed software for the schools and district
- $15,000 to replace furniture
- $65,000 for projectors at the elementary, with the fourth and fifth grade already having been upgraded
- $32,000 toward the replacement of a district vehicle
Several directors expressed a desire to build, remodel and improve the space used by the popular Industrial Technology program at the high school as well as the home economic spaces at the middle school. Finding the funds unavailable for the 2018 calendar year, the board agreed to revisit the projects as soon as possible.
Also discussed at some length was the need for an irrigation system of some kind to be used for the practice field north of Dewey Field. Several humorous vignettes were offered to describe the condition of the field, though several board members noted they jested only in sympathy, agreeing the need was real and would only worsen with time.
A move to have two buses placed on the current replacement schedule as opposed to one was pushed back, and it appeared the board was also looking at scaling back the expansion of Kaufman Track from six lanes to eight, though no formal action was taken on the matter.
The Perry School Board will hold their monthly meeting Monday, Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Brady Library at Perry High School. The public is welcome to attend.
