Nov 27, 2021

Hays superintendent: USD 489 aggressive in use of capital outlay funds

Posted Nov 27, 2021 12:01 PM

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Hays USD 489 superintendent told the school board Monday night the district's use of capital outlay dollars has been very smart.

"The message I want to send today is that our district has been very, very aggressive in making sure our capital outlay dollars are going across our district to, for the most part, all of our buildings, and we are taking care of our needs," Superintendent Ron Wilson said.

 He addressed the projects that have been accomplished in the last year and what officials would like to accomplish in the coming years during the meeting.

The district receives about $3.4 million in capital outlay revenue each year. However, about $1.5 million annually goes to pay lease agreements and routine replacement costs for technology, food service and transportation, said Chris Hipp, assistant superintendent of business services.

Hays USD 489 capital outlay projects for 2020-21 <br>
Hays USD 489 capital outlay projects for 2020-21

Last year's largest project was the secure entrance at Wilson Elementary School. Work on the project is ongoing.

Wilson was the last school in the district to receive a secure entrance with the exception of Westside school.

In addition to making the school more secure, the construction at the school includes new offices, a conference room and a staff bathroom.

The project costs $782,000, but the USD 489 Foundation for Education Excellence donated a portion of the funds.

A complete look at the capital outlay budget can be found on the district website.

Not everything on the five-year list is going to be done, Wilson said. The district does not have enough funds for that. The budget is a planning document.

The most significant project on tap for this school year is replacement of the Hays High School HVAC system, which will cost about $4.5 million. That cost will be spread over two years. Bids should be available to the board on this project at its next meeting on Dec. 13.

The district hopes to also replace the HVAC at Wilson Elementary School at a cost of $2.25 million over two years. Because these projects will improve ventilation in the schools, $2.8 million in federal COVID relief funds will be available to be used on these projects. Bids will be let in February for the Wilson HVAC project.

In addition, windows will be replaced at Wilson, O'Loughlin, Westside and Rockwell at a total cost of $652,000. Federal COVID funds in the amount of $650,000 will be available for these projects.

District officials are hoping to make several repairs to the athletic facilities this year including HHS track resurfacing ($100,000), replace/repair the HHS old tennis courts ($400,000), resurface newer tennis courts ($100,000) and Hays Middle School track repair ($150,000).

Wilson said the district only has four courts for 40 female tennis players at the high school. A comparable number of boys also participate in HHS tennis.

Westside would be the last school in the district to receive a secure entrance at a cost of $35,000. Federal COVID funds will also be available for this project.

When the district gets out to 2023-24 and beyond, it starts to look at some larger ticket items, such as adding a culinary classroom at the high school ($850,000), expanding the cafeteria at HMS ($850,000), replumbing Wilson ($1.5 million), 12th Street auditorium renovation ($2.5 million).

The district doesn't have the funds to do all these projects in a single year, but they're all on the priority list, Wilson said.

"This is just a graphic to show you that our needs out weigh our dollars," Wilson said. "We just keep moving everything to the right and pushing things down the road."

Craig Pallister, board vice-president, said the capital outlay budget addresses needs, but doesn't address the district's space needs and that's why the district is looking at a bond.

Wilson said, "There is no way we're going to have a bond big enough to cover all of these, so we're going to have to keep chipping. I think a successful bond will help us move forward."

Tammy Wellbrock, board vice-president, said the if the district is able to address some items on the capital outlay list in a bond, that would free up funds in the budget to address other facility needs. In this way, more schools could be affected by a positive bond vote, she said.

Curt Vajnar, newly appointed board member, asked Wilson if the district planned to make the community aware of capital outlay planning in its bond discussions.

Wilson said yes. The district plans to work on the bond and capital outlay budget together.

The board did not approve anything Monday night. Each project will be approved by the board individually.

Cover photo courtesy of Pixabay.