Capital Reserve Proposition on May Ballot
A capital reserve proposition will be on the May 19 ballot in the Huntington School District, but passage of the proposal won’t have any impact on the tax rate because the funds are already in the district’s coffers.
At Monday night’s meeting, School Board members approved placing a proposition on the ballot which asks residents to approve expending $368,000 for five separate projects at five different schools in the district. The monies to pay for the work would be drawn from the existing Building Improvement Fund, which was established by voters last May 20.
The district is seeking authorization to expend an amount not to exceed $235,000 at Jefferson Primary School for the installation of new exterior cafeteria doors where none presently exist and for accessibility improvements in the school’s bathrooms related to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The proposition also seeking permission to expend up to a combined total of $87,000 for the installation of new exterior cafeteria doors where none presently exist at Flower Hill, Washington and Southdown primary schools and $46,000 for the installation of special auditorium area safety smoke doors at Huntington High School, which will help create a distinct smoke free zone.
The project to install the new cafeteria doors was spurred by the State Education Dept. as a safety measure to provide for an alternate means of exit to the outdoors should an emergency develop and prevent students and staff from using existing exits leading to the main hallway at each of the schools. SED also requested the installation of the auditorium area smoke doors.
If voters give a green light for the work, the district will have its architectural firm draw up plans and submit them to the State Education Dept. for its approval. Once such approval is obtained, the projects will be put out to bid. The district will be eligible to receive partial reimbursement via state aid for the cost of the projects once they are completed.
The Huntington School District has traditionally utilized a pay-as-you-go approach to capital improvements, preferring that funding method to bonding such expenses. This has allowed the district to keep its debt level relatively low and avoid incurring interest expenses. Funds for the projects come from savings generated by tightly managing the annual school budget. Administrators seek efficiencies across the board to produce monies that are used to pay for needed capital projects approved by residents.
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