Board seeks savings on building project

The Harrisburg Board of Education is seeking ways to save money on its high school construction project.

The board convened a special meeting Wednesday at the Harrisburg Middle School media center to approve the submission of a new Qualified School Construction Bond that would save the school district $7 million on the new high school.

"There were several people that weren't against the new school but were against how we were going to fund it," Superintendent Mike Gauch said.

Officials, last year, secured $15 million in bonds to start the renovation project at the Harrisburg High School. With the interest, over the course of 30 years, the school would pay back those bonds at nearly $24 million. That is a total of $9 million above what they were spending on the project.

The main issues that arose at that time were arguments over the length of the payback period, saying that the 30 years was too long and that the district's pledged sales tax was too close to the allotted 80 percent.

These new bonds would give the board $17 million to spend on the project leaving it with only that money to repay. Saving the school district $7 million. It would shorten the time for pay back by 5 years.

The new bonds aren't in the school board's hands yet, but the members did approve the submission of the application to start the process.

"We have to apply for it first, but we have cleared hurdles the other schools have not," Gauch said.

Several factors come into play including the number of students who receive free or reduced lunches, the project must be "shovel ready" or ready to go, and the bonds have to be executed within 18 months of receiving them.

Gauch is positive that all the factors are in line as they can execute the money within 2 weeks.

Submission deadline for the application is Jan. 15 and state officials have said that the schools will know something by the middle of February.