By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

In addition to extensively discussing elementary reconfiguration, Northwestern Lehigh School Board members received information on the district’s facilities master plan for upcoming school years, and a 2021-22 budget update.

Director of Operations Arthur Oakes said that over the past several years, the district has completed a number of capital projects including stadium improvements, replacement of the middle school’s gym flooring, infrastructure upgrades, a water tank replacement and sewer repairs at the high school, and the installation of HVAC bipolar ionizers districtwide.

Additional projects included sports field upgrades, COVID-ready renovations for nurse suites and an annual roof maintenance plan which the district continues to fund.

He said the district had a number of projects which had been planned for the 2020-21 school year, but these had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The planned projects included a number of upgrades to the middle school including an HVAC system replacement, as Oakes said, the current system is nearly 30-years-old, auditorium and site work, sprinkler system replacements, and reconfiguration of the large group instruction room.

He said other delayed projects included the potential elementary reconfiguration, as well as districtwide small capital projects and operations building installations.

Looking forward at 2021-22, Oakes said a major item would be the replacement of the middle school’s main waterline.

The issue would be brought before the board in April to allow for work to commence in the summer.

Oakes said the current waterline is leaking and the new plan calls for the line to run from the district’s wellhead behind the stadium directly to the middle school building, instead of cutting across the stadium and around the building as the current waterline does.

He would like to bid out the project next month, with a budgeted amount around $182,000.

Additionally, Oakes said another project will be upgrading the maintenance building’s diesel pump to bring it into compliance with the Department of Environmental Protection.

Furthermore, 2022-23’s projected capital projects include roof replacements or restorations for the middle school and high school.

Oakes said there have been some board-level debates on how to save money on the middle school roof project, which includes either changing the building’s look or giving it a refresh with a new metal roof, which he said was preferred but would be more costly.

He said the current roof has been plagued with issues, and the problem must be addressed as a whole.

For the 2023-24 year, Oakes said work includes renovations to the high school cafeteria to improve building sight lines and boost flow and functionality.

He added the plan is still in the works and will be flushed out in the future.

Business Administrator Leslie Frisbie provided information on how the district funds its planned roof management plans, noting Northwestern Lehigh commits $300,000 annually in transfers to the capital reserve fund to be earmarked for future use.

She said when combined with a previously-earmarked $600,000, by the 2024-25 school year the district will have $2.1 million allocated for roof repairs, though based on current plans for the middle school the projected expenditure requirements will be approximately $4.06 million.

She recommended should the board proceed with any type of project requiring borrowing, the district should include the roof replacement within that amount.

Frisbie also provided an overview of the district’s financing plan for 2020-21 and reviewed the different funding sources including the capital reserve fund - and its two categories for general projects and roof replacements, the capital projects fund and available general fund balance use.

As of July 1, 2020, the district had identified around $5.36 million of available funds for capital projects, and estimated that by June 30 the total would reach $5.61 million.

She also provided estimates for the next few years, factoring in a “status-quo” budgeting strategy by the district and the various projects outlined by Oakes, and said by the end of June 2024 the district would have around $4.96 million reserved for capital projects.

However, Frisbie said, if the district reduces or eliminates the capital reserve transfers, it would make funding capital projects more difficult.

She also provided another update on the district’s 2021-22 budgeting process, adding she had “good budget news” to share.

She reviewed Northwestern Lehigh’s January budget estimates which listed estimated revenues of $44,720,160 and estimated expenditures of around $48,450,577, leaving an estimated shortfall of $4,470,417 before any millage increase.

However, she noted that since January, local revenue conditions improved, and Frisbie recommended restoring around $285,000 to the district’s current real estate tax collections, noting the district had reduced the collection percentage in the 2021 budget under the assumptions that COVID-19 would have a negative impact, which she said never materialized.

Frisbie recommended revenue from earned income tax levels be restored to the listed $2.5 million amount, as she said collections appeared to remain stable.

In total, Frisbie said the restored amounts will increase the district’s total revenue, and reduce the shortfall, by around $525,303.

Regarding federal revenue Frisbie said there had been a significant increase as well, which she attributed to grant funding, and noted that the increase amount was around $429,923.

However, she said the district was assuming the money will be in supplemental funds, and would thus not reduce the budgetary shortfall.

With the new figures, Frisbie said the new estimated totals as of March were estimated revenues of $45,675,386, total estimated expenditures of $8,880,500, and an estimated operating shortfall of $3,205,114 before any millage increase.

Frisbie said the shortfall would be addressed by a combination of use of fund balance, targeted reductions, a millage increase and/or attritional savings on staff.

She also provided a look into the district’s COVID-19 grants and reimbursement funds.

The administration had been tracking and accounting for coronavirus-related expenditures and looking for funding sources to reimburse and offset costs.

Frisbie said in the 2020-21 budget, the district had allocated $50,000 for COVID-related expenditures but in total, Northwestern Lehigh’s expenditures have far exceeded this amount.

From March 2020 through January 2021 the district’s COVID-19 expenses totaled more than $841,060, and she anticipated more spending to provide for online learning, personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, and increased charter school enrollments would yield additional costs.

She also said, in total for the 2020-21 year, the district received $459,204 in COVID-19 funding through various grants and reimbursements, and that for both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, projections show a total COVID-19 funding amount of $428,923.