Published: Sunday, July 15, 2007
Y-town school district watching its costs
By HAROLD GWIN
To view the rebuilding costs, click here
YOUNGSTOWN — A member of the city school board has suggested the district reassess the scope of the five remaining schools on its rebuilding list to avoid any potential cost overruns.
Lock P. Beachum Sr. said the district can't afford to incur any unanticipated expenses that might require taking money out of the general fund budget.
The district ran a $15 million general fund budget deficit last fiscal year, which ended June 30, and is asking voters to approve a 9.5-mill tax levy in November to help cover some of that red ink.
Beachum made his comment at a recent school board meeting after hearing a report from Treasurer Carolyn Funk, who said the district has $61 million left to complete an estimated $62 million worth of work. Five buildings remain on the list to be built — Wilson, Rayen, Bunn, Volney Rogers and North.
However, Funk said her numbers aren't "carved in stone," adding, "The message is, we're pretty close to maxing out our available revenue."
Beachum said a reassessment should be done before any work is started on the remaining buildings, but site work has already begun on North Elementary School, and the board voted at last week's meeting to advertise for bids for construction of a new building there. All members present, including Beachum, voted in favor of that motion.
The district is replacing or renovating 14 buildings in a project pegged at about $180 million. The Ohio School Facilities Commission is picking up 80 percent of the eligible construction costs and has already put $125.1 million into the program, according to Funk's report.
Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs, is in charge of the rebuilding program and said he doesn't think there will be any problem meeting budget constraints.
"We feel pretty comfortable," he said, pointing out that the eight buildings completed thus far (a ninth is still under construction) came in an average of just 1 percent over budget. Bids opened last week for the demolition of the old Volney Rogers school came in $500,000 below the budget estimate, which improves the district's financial position in terms of the construction budget, he added.
The rebuilding program has already been downsized, at the OSFC's insistence, a couple of times since it started in 2003. The original $202 million plan to replace or renovate 16 buildings was reduced to 14 and the sizes of the five remaining buildings were reduced due to the district's declining pupil population.
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