Two BEST Grants for roofing at Singing Hills Elementary and Elizabeth High School are key justifications for the C-1 Bond issue planned for the November Election. BEST is an acronym for a Colorado Dept. of Education Capital Construction Assistance program titled “Building Excellent Schools Today.”
The Blue Ribbon Panel [BRP] appointed by the C-1 Board to “explore the feasibility” of the Bond initiative, in their report to the C-1 Board, said that the cost factors used in the BEST Grants were high by several dollars a square foot. Moreover, the BEST Grant for the High School assumes total roof replacement, and the BRP did not reach that conclusion. They recommended an Independent Roofing Consultant evaluate the High School for possible repair rather than replacement.
Here is a spreadsheet that recalculates both BEST Grants at $9 per Square Foot. The “Total Potential School District Funds Necessary” goes down from $1,244,679 to $937,289, for a savings of $306K.
The BRP inherited their project list for this Bond initiative from the Infrastructure Assessment Committee‘s work.
The BEST Grants make up the largest elements of the Bond initiative justification, however, the high cost factors they contain, and the fact that both of them assume roof replacement when it may turn out that the High School roof only needs much less expensive repairs instead of replacement, were expressed to the C-1 Board in the BRPs report.
The BRP member who contacted me gave assurances that there was no question about the necessity for the infrastructure replacements and repairs contemplated to be funded by the Bond initiative. He was concerned, however, that the community be accurately informed about the recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Panel with regard to the BEST Grant numbers and assumptions. And he was concerned that any initiative to increase taxes, particularly in this tight economy, be as closely coupled to expected real outcomes as possible.
The BRP also recommended that “any excess [Bond revenue not required to pay the expenses for which the Bond would be passed] would be used to pay down the bond[.]” Language to achieve this outcome would need to be written into the ballot measure for the Bond, and that writing is currently underway. Presumably the C-1 District has fund accounting mechanisms for internal controls to segregate sources and uses of Bond revenue allocated to specific projects.
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