The Salisbury Township School Board held an operations and finance committee meeting Dec. 6 to discuss whether it is in the district’s best interest to borrow $3.5 million or $4 million to finance both the middle school roof project and the water mitigation project at Salisbury Elementary School.

Public Financial Management representative Garrett Moore reviewed the borrowing parameters for the board given the two different amounts and outlined the expenditure for the district for each amount. He also presented a tentative timeline if the board gave its approval at the regular board meeting which would culminate in mid-February 2024.

Attorney Richard Campbell attended the meeting to present the reimbursement resolution drawn up by law firm King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, LLC. The reimbursement resolution allows the district to borrow from the general fund and then reimburse the fund once the debt has been issued.

Board members discussed the need for the increase in the amount borrowed which stemmed from the contingency costs levied by D’Huy which caused the total expenditure for both projects to exceed $3.5 million. Borrowing $4 million to cover the $490,000 shortfall would force the board to take funds from the fund balance but as Director Joseph Gnall pointed out it may serve the district well in the form of a better credit rating.

It was also noted there are several other capital projects slated for completion and the additional funds can be applied to them.

Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickischer presented her monthly year-to-date 2-year comparison of expenditures, revenue and cash and investments. She reported revenues are up over 8% from this time last year but expenditures are also trending higher than last year.

She attributes the increase in expenditures to the timing of bill payments. Also on the plus side is the 16% increase in the district’s overall cash and investments.

Nickischer updated the board on the auditing process which continues to move forward and she anticipates it will come to a close before the holiday.

During the operations committee portion of the meeting, the board discussed the option of extending the current contract with SFE which provides meals to district students K-12. When comparing the total number of meals served over a 2-year period Nickischer noted a prominent trend upward in the amount of meals served. After a brief discussion the board seemed inclined to take advantage of the 1-year extension.

The next meeting of the finance committee will be 7 p.m. Jan. 17, 2024. All meetings are held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.