Options discussed

The list of projects has been trimmed down, but it's still not clear how the Jay School Corporation will pay for the work.

Representatives of Validated Custom Solutions and CSO Architects returned to the Jay School Board Monday night to review work that needs to be done on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems on a number of schools.

Since October, those firms have been working with the administration and board member Jim Sanders to re-evaluate the HVAC proposal.

"We've taken a few things off the list," John Rigsby of CSO told the board.

Sanders noted that the original proposals for Judge Haynes and General Shanks elementaries had been scaled back to bring the total cost down.

As outlined last fall, HVAC work on Bloomfield, East, General Shanks, Judge Haynes, Redkey, and Westlawn elementaries and West Jay Middle School would have cost an estimated $4,058,000.

As revised, the list now has an estimated price tag of $3,554,000.

"This is all bonafide work that needs to be done," said superintendent Tim Long.

Sanders noted that about $380,000 would clear up a number of the smaller projects. "That would leave us out there with the big ones," he said.

At issue is whether to approach the list of HVAC projects over time, spreading the work over 10 years and dedicating about $380,000 a year to it, borrowing the entire amount through the Senate Bill 516 process and paying it back over 10 years, or doing a combination of pay-as-you-go and borrowing.

"These figures are going to escalate," said board member Larry Paxson. I see going with a 516."

But other board members have expressed uneasiness about taking on further debt and skepticism about the Senate Bill 516 process.

Under the Senate Bill 516 process, funds are borrowed without a bond issue and are paid back by the capital projects fund. That's the method that was used with a controversial energy savings project with Honeywell in the late 1990s.

But Paxson and business manager Brad DeRome noted that the Honeywell payments tied up a far larger portion of the annual capital projects budget than would be involved on the HVAC work.

The capital projects budget is about $3.1 million. If the entire $3.5 million were financed via Senate Bill 516, the annual payments would be about $400,000. With the Honeywell project, they topped $800,000 and approached $1 million.

"We're as flexible in the capital projects fund as we've been in a decade," said DeRome.

"I think it's a good debate to have," board president Bryan Alexander said. "I think we're in for a lot of inflation. I think there's an argument to be made" for financing at least a portion of the work.

Board member Greg Wellman was more cautious. "We have time to cautiously figure out how to fix the big stuff," he said. "We can't drag our feet too long either."

"I think we need to do it all," board member Mike Masters said of the project list. "I would like to see some kind of a timeline."

Masters also urged the board to be more coordinated in approaching capital projects rather than having to address urgent needs. "If you always do what you've always done, you always get what you always got," he said.

At the board's direction, Long and DeRome will develop a list of priorities and a series of options, ranging from pay-as-you-go to complete financing.

Here's a breakdown on the revised list of proposed HVAC projects:

•Work at Bloomfield estimated at $48,000.

•Work at East estimated at $750,000.

•Work at General Shanks estimated at $48,000.

•Work at Judge Haynes estimated at $48,000.

•Work at Redkey estimated at $710,000.

•Work at Westlawn estimated at $630,000.

•Work at West Jay estimated at $1,320,000.

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