Parts of the roofs at De Soto High School and Athena Elementary School will be replaced this year, but Superintendent Josh Isaacson cautioned the Board of Education that the $777,174 it agreed to spend on the projects won’t be the end of roofing work in the De Soto School District.
The board voted 6-0 Sept. 15 to accept a bid from Shay Roofing of Millstadt, Ill., to repair or replace parts of the high school roof for $651,158. Leak Stoppers Roofing LLC of Festus will do the work at Athena for $123,040. Both were the lowest of four bids for each project.
The board also agreed to pay SMCI of De Soto $2,976 to install new curb rails, or an elevated platform, which will lift the heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit about a foot above the roof.
SMCI was the only bidder for the curb rails.
Isaacson said work at both schools should begin within the next 60 days.
The board had included money in this year’s budget for some roof repairs.
The work was recommended by the Garland Co. in St. Charles, which the board hired in June as its roofing consultant.
Garland also suggested that roofing work is needed at De Soto Junior High School, but the board rejected those bids because the work at the high school, over a section of classrooms, came in much higher than budgeted and is considered a priority.
“There’s a silver lining to this,” said Jeremy Cozart, territory manager for Garland. “With all the water infiltration in the walls (at the high school), if you delayed this project much more, it would have a ‘1’ in front of it,” meaning the project would cost more than $1 million.
Cozart said the roof repairs should last for 30 to 40 years, adding that the company would inspect the work every year, as well as train the district’s maintenance staff to inspect and do minor repairs throughout the year.
Isaacson cautioned the board that work maintaining the district’s aging buildings, HVAC systems and infrastructure isn’t going to get any more economical.
“There are a lot of facility challenges ahead of us,” he said. “Some of it has to do with the work not being done correctly in the first place,” referring to problems at the high school gym, which opened in 2005.
New funding sources sought
Isaacson said the failure of Proposition K.I.D.S. (Keep Improving De Soto’s Schools) in April, when voters were asked to approve a 25-cent property tax increase and a shift of 25 cents from the district’s fund to pay off bond debt to the general operating fund, has caused concern.
“We still have the same needs,” he said. “And the construction projects we would have funded (with the 25-cent shift) will cost us more in the future. We know our community has limited resources. We found that out in April. But our resources also are limited.”
Isaacson said the board might be asked to consider a bond issue extension, which would not raise taxes but would extend the district’s bond debt for another 20 years.
Depending on the timing, that move could allow the district to sell an additional $10 million to $14 million in bonds, he said.
A second option, Isaacson said, would be to ask voters again for the 25-cent transfer from the debt service levy to the general fund, which would make that 25-cent tax permanent.
“That would take care of our problems indefinitely,” he said, noting that contrasted with the bond issue extension, “as soon as we take care of our problems in 20 years, we’ll have to take care of them again.”
At the district’s current assessed valuation, the transfer would generate an additional $500,000 a year that could be dedicated to capital projects, Isaacson said.
Unlike the April ballot issue, the transfer would not be tied to a 25-cent tax increase that would have been used to raise the pay of all district employees.
A third, less palatable option, Isaacson said, would be to simply borrow money from local banks to finance the needed repairs.
“We would not have to ask voters for approval for that,” he said.
However, because the money to repay the loans would be drawn from the district’s day-to-day general operations fund, committing that money would restrict the district from using it for other purposes, such as staffing and outfitting schools, Isaacson said.
“I think this option is the lesser of all of the things we can do,” he said. “But I don’t want this to sound as if it’s all gloom and doom. It’s more of an awareness issue at this point.
“But to solve our facility needs long-term, we will need our community’s help.”