Roslyn Board of Education trustees on Thursday discussed various infrastructure improvements included in its proposed $40 million in capital projects as part of a public hearing aimed at reaching a bond referendum budget.
Trustees heard a description of each infrastructure project from Erik Kaeyer, the vice president and design principal of KG&D Architects which first introduced the district’s capital plan shortly after the start of the school year, as well as from Lawrence Barille, of the White Plains-based Damiano and Barille Engineers, PC.
Proposed infrastructure improvements account for $13,315,998 of the district’s capital plan, according to the budgetary worksheet trustees are using in prioritizing the projects to include in a bond referendum.
“If you look at the infrastructure page, the priority 1s and 2s are pretty much absolutes at this point,” Roslyn Superintendent of Schools Dan Brenner said in a phone interview on Friday. “We’re in agreement those are the ones we’ll have to do. The priority 3s are the ones we’ll have to consider whether to choose or not.”
Infrastructure projects labeled “priority 1” throughout the district account for $3,710,000 and include door replacement, tile and sink repair, masonry work, emergency lighting and circuit replacement.
Those labeled “priority 2” would cost $6,536,640 and include projects to improve electrical units, connect roof and drain lines, and replace aspects of the district’s plumbing systems, in addition to a $2,574,000 line item that would convert steam to hot water at Heights Elementary School.
Projects labeled “priority 3” would cost $3,069,358 and include line items like the replacement of fan coil units and radiators, cafeteria and gym lighting, as well as exhaust fans and heating ventilation systems.
Brenner said by the time the board meets again on November 21, trustees will have a more concrete idea of its budgetary range in order to propose a bond referendum.
“The question becomes ‘what else do they do’ and we agreed that we would start the conversation of what range they are comfortable with, but we’ll follow that with what projects are priority 3s that should be included and what priority 2s should be reduced,” Brenner said.
Brenner said infrastructure projects could yield as much as $2 million as part of an energy performance contract, which would cut down the cost of the district’s capital plan. The board is also considering utilizing some of the district’s reserves to offset costs and the district will also be alleviated of $10 million in overall debt by 2016, when much of the borrowing on the capital plan is expected to begin.
“At that point, that will free up about what amounts to being a $10 million debt that we have and so when you’re going out for a bond, by the time we’re borrowing much of the money, some debt will come due and some of it will offset,” Brenner said. “So approximately, an average home is valued at $800,000 in Roslyn. For every $10 million, approximately $100 is assessed on their taxes. In that context, if you did a $10 million bond and $10 million comes off the rolls for old debt, you could do $10 million at no cost to the taxpayers.”
If the board were to float a $40 million bond in 2016, Brenner said the bond would actually be a $30 million bond because it would replace the $10 million in debt that the district is eliminating.
In that scenario, the average taxpayer would be charged an additional $300 a year, but Brenner said that figure would decrease to $240 a year with the use of a $2 million energy performance contract and the use of $4 million in reserves.
“So that’s really the kind of math the board will be considering in figuring what the bond should be,” Brenner said.
