Study shows BASD tax levy is 15% below average

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

As consultant Nexus Solutions made its initial presentation to the Burlington Area School District School Board Monday night regarding possible facility upgrades, the company made it very clear it was impressed with the district’s finances.

The facilities study gave the district a way to fund about $2.6 million in repairs and upgrades – with work that would pay for itself and not result in any tax levy increases.

However, when Nexus’ Mike David went over the district’s tax situation, he pointed out that – in terms of a per-pupil tax levy – BASD is well below the average.

“Your local levy is about 15 percent below average,” David said.

The information David presented jived with numbers that School Board Member Larry Anderson had presented in March, showing that BASD had one of the lowest levies in the area.

Anderson pointed that out to David, who added that the district had “done well” in terms of managing its finances.

BASD Superintendent Peter Smet said the data showed the district is “fiscally responsible.”

“I think the data is showing that,” Smet said. “We have worked very hard to be fiscally responsible, and I believe the data shows that.”

And while the district is still waiting for a copy of Nexus’ report, the initial findings reported Monday night seem to reveal a few more ways the district could save additional dollars.

While David cautioned it was a “cursory” analysis, Nexus found the district wasn’t maximizing its ability to go “green” on a number of different items, including maximizing natural gas and electricity use.

Among the upgrades that could pay for themselves would be lighting upgrades, as well as high-efficiency motors and variable speed drives in various places. The district could also move to lower-flow fixtures that would save on both water and sewer costs, and install hand dryers in restrooms to lower the cost of paper towels.

Also along the same lines, the district could consolidate printers to save on paper and ink use. With all of those fixes, BASD could gain about $130,000 in annual savings.

What would get trickier, though, would be making improvements with new fire alarms, pneumatic controls, roof repair and replacement and security camera systems. The work would require a larger capital outlay initially, though it would likely be paid off much like how things worked out with the new high school – with referendum dollars.

However, with other options including right-sizing Karcher (which has an essentially unused third floor) and matching elementary school capacity with enrollment, the district hit on another element that is a variable – enrollment. All projections are that enrollment will continue to drop.

The idea of the study with Nexus-Scherrer – Nexus provides the professional resources, with Scherrer Construction serving as construction manager – is to provide a facilities study and plan for the district’s future. Smet said Monday evening the district hasn’t really done that in 25 years.

“We have to address all those concerns,” Smet said.

The real question is: is the Nexus-Scherrer option the best one? David advised the district to look over the report and discuss what would be best for it. Smet stressed to the board and to the audience that no decisions were going to be made immediately, and that there are further discussions to be had by the board.

David did say the Nexus-Scherrer partnership – or a similar arrangement – would allow the district to get the best bang for its buck, vs. hiring an architect to outline new facilities.