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Decorah District facilities need help, but where will money come from?

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Setting priorities for Decorah school facilities is going to hinge on one thing: finances.

At Monday's meeting of the Decorah School Board, the Board discussed how it could work with the Decorah Shareholders Committee, the citizens' advisory group charged with helping identify the District's needs, to solve a number of impending facilities issues.

"Let's think about how we come up with words that give that guidance to the Shareholders this year," said Board President Ramona Nelson.

"I think what we do needs to be dollar-driven. To think we could undertake a $10-million plus renovation at the high school plus a new elementary school at $ 12 million ... I don't know how we could come up with those types of funds," added Decorah Superintendent Mike Haluska.

Haluska said in order to embark upon a complete renovation of the high school and a replacement of John Cline Elementary, the District, "would have to go to full bonding capacity ... I think that's too much of a stretch. It leaves you no leverage if some emergency would occur, and I don't think that's very good financial planning."

Haluska presented the Board with potential bonding limits and projected sales tax revenue.

"I've been working with Geof Grimes (of StruXtures Architects) to determine how much work we could accomplish with our buildings by utilizing approximately half the revenue generated by our statewide penny (approximately $700,000 in sales tax revenue per year)," he said.

Excellent job

Haluska complimented former Superintendent Steve Chambliss and District Business Manager Doug Nefzger for their efforts on the District's behalf.

"My predecessor and Cathy's (Dietzenbach) predecessor did an excellent job undertaking two projects (Carrie Lee and Decorah Middle School) and only running the District's debt load through 2015. To do what they did in that amount of time, and limiting the debt was very well done. They obviously understood that you don't stretch your debt out longer than you have to, and you don't dip into your safety net," said Haluska.

Priorities

At the top of the Board's list for renovations is the high school.

"Within that context, we have to decide what systems command attention first," said Board Member Rick Valley.

"There are few things that could disrupt our education system as much as that heating system going out. If all of a sudden the HVAC system says 'I'm done,' we have some serious issues," said Valley.

Newly elected Board Member Ron Fadness agreed.

"We need to be sure to not put good money into systems that will become obsolete," said Fadness.

"Maybe we should have StruX-tures talk to us as a Board," said Board Member Brian Petersburg.

Nelson said she also is concerned with the high school's ability to keep up from a technological standpoint.

"We've got kids in third through eighth grade taking steps backward



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© 2009 The Decorah Journal Decorah, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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