California school board to look into construction of wellness center
CALIFORNIA – The California Area School Board Monday voted to spend $36,000 for the preliminary work needed to determine if a parcel of land at the high school/middle school complex is suitable for construction of a wellness center. The board authorized spending $26,000 for a master site plan to be prepared by Mackin Engineering and $10,000 for a geological investigation to be done by a subcontractor. The board decided to wait until the site plan and geological investigation are completed before contracting a firm to prepare the conceptual design study.
The district’s solicitor, Lee Price, pointed out that if the district does not follow through with construction, it would not receive any state reimbursement for the studies. Director George Safin had suggested that the district only do the geological investigation at this point to determine if the site is suitable for development, but Price pointed out that information from the site plan would be needed for an accurate geological investigation to be done. The site plan will include a survey of the property.
Dr. R. Tim Marks, the district superintendent, said he has spoken with state Rep. Peter J. Daley (D-California) and officials at the state Department of Education to clarify several issues about the wellness center, including questions of ownership of the proposed facility.
“We would own it,” Marks said. “For that to happen, the district would have to raise $5.5 million, most likely through a bond issue.”
“If you’re going to want to float a bond issue, you’ll want to get your bond counsel involved so you know what kind of debt schedule you’re looking at, particularly under Act 1,” Price said.
Act 1, which deals with property tax reform, limits the amount by which a district may increase taxes. Safin estimated that a $5 million bond issue would require a tax increase of about six mills in order to cover the added debt in the budget.
Marks said the district might also want to consider attaching the wellness center to one of the existing buildings in some way in order to receive the most reimbursement from the state Department of Education.
“They said it would be more difficult to get reimbursement if it were a separate, detached facility,” Marks said.
Daley has said that $2 million in state funding is available for the project, but it would have to be matched dollar for dollar by the district. He had previously approached California Borough about the project, but the borough decided it could not afford it.
Director John Bayer pointed out that the value of the land used for the project as well as the money spent on preliminary studies would count toward that match. Bayer also noted that the district could finance as little as $2 million at this time by eliminating features such as the swimming pool and walking track from the proposal.
The $7.5 million project would not include at outdoor track, football stadium or baseball field, which Marks said could be done in the future. Marks said there was no specific time line for the additional phases of the project.