South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Lindbergh already reaping Prop 4 benefits

By SCOTT MILLER

Staff Reporter

Lindbergh School District pupils already are enjoying the treasures of a $14.1 million bond issue approved last year, and school officials say enough money is left in the pot to complete all work by late next year.

Proposition 4 is resulting in improvements at all district schools, including increased parking and improved traffic flow; removal of arsenic-treated wood playground equipment at the elementary schools; renovated locker rooms, a natatorium with a swimming pool and multipurpose room at the high school; and an expanded library and enclosed walkway connecting the buildings at Truman Elementary School.

Pupils at Kennerly, Crestwood and Sap-pington elementaries have new playground equipment, as will Truman Elementary, according to Karl Guyer, Lindbergh’s di-rector of facilities.

And Sperreng Middle School has a renovated music department and extended courtyard. Construction has gone as scheduled with only a few problems, but district officials were prepared to handle the unexpected, he said.

The Board of Education early established a budget of $14.43 million for the project that included the $14.1 million in revenue generated by the bonds issue, but $330,000 in investment earnings on the proceeds of the bond issue.

Bids approved earlier this year by the Board of Education for Proposition 4 construction projects placed the bond issue improvements at roughly $241,000 under budget. At a special meeting Feb. 24, board members agreed to return the remaining $241,697 to the construction contingency fund, increasing the contingency fund to more than $1.3 million.

“It’s to cover cost for items that you can’t fully anticipate ahead of time,” Guyer said. “It’s for work that will be part of the project, you just can’t anticipate them ahead of time.”

Two unanticipated projects at the high school — the required installation of a water line for fire service and replacing four outmoded electrical transfers with a single more efficient transformer — totaling roughly $350,000 — are causing the district to dip into that contingency, but district officials are confident remaining contingency funds will be sufficient to complete the planned work.

“At this point, we feel that there will be adequate funding left over (to cover any more unexpected costs),” Guyer said.

Approval of Proposition 4 in April 2003 increased the district’s debt-service tax rate by 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, according to Pat Lanane, assistant superintendent for finance and the district’s chief financial officer.

Along with the new pool, multipurpose room and previously mentioned upgrades, the bond issue paid for several parking lot renovations, which are nearly complete, new shade shelters, which are complete, and some sidewalk repair, which is also complete. Each district school received im-provements.

Still, district officials anticipate more up-grades in the near future, but Lanane hopes those can be done without a tax-rate increase or with a no-tax-rate-increase bond issue.

“We have long-range plans,” Lanane said. “One of the things somewhere in the next four years, something we’re going to have to look at is roof repair.”

The district has an obligation to maintain and enhance the facilities it has to provide the best learning environment for students, he said.

“We have a duty to keep those things up to date, and we want that to be at a minimum burden to the taxpayers,” Lanane said.

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