County committee continues bond inquiry

Business service director for Douglas County School District Holly Luna explained to members of Keep Improving Douglas Schools the difference between general maintenance and capital improvement projects at the committee's third meeting Tuesday at Meneley Elementary School.

The school board approved the formation of the committee in September to explore funding options for the district's capital improvement projects.

Luna said that any project costing more than $100,000 exceeds general maintenance and qualifies for capital improvement funding. She explained that basic maintenance comes from a state-alloted general fund, dependent on the district's number of students.

"Seventy-six percent of that money goes to salaries and benefits. 2.5 percent goes to general maintenance for things like replacing concrete steps, wooden ramps and broken windows," Luna said.

She said capital improvement projects are not paid for by the general fund, and that the district needs to come up with ways to fund large-scale projects.

Committee member Greg Felton asked whether general maintenance itself was under-funded, creating circumstances where basic maintenance problems become larger problems exceeding the $100,000 mark.

"Any issues with the general fund, you have to take up with the Legislature," Luna said.

Luna said in some cases it might be better to invest in a new capital project then use maintenance funds as a quick fix for a given problem.

"We spend $20,000 a year from the general fund replacing valves for Pau-Wa-Lu's HVAC system. They pop like fuses," Luna said. "It would be more efficient to use capital improvement funds and replace the entire system."

Luna said she would soon be completing a list of schools' capital improvement needs based on the input of individual principals along with her own assessments.

The committee will need to examine the information and make a recommendation to the school board as how to fund the prioritized projects.

If a school bond is recommended, the board will have until July to place a bond measure on the ballot for next November's election.

Keep Improving Douglas Schools' next meeting will be Nov. 15, 6:30 p.m. at Whittell High School.