D122 to Talk About Financing Building Projects

With about $6.7 million in priority building projects, the New Lenox District 122 school board will be presented a financing plan at tonight's board meeting.

The school board meets at 7 p.m. tonight, Nov. 2, at the . The meeting is open to the public.

During a special meeting last week, the board put the various moving parts of its finances into context with one another, and part of the plan presented by administrators .

These projects would be paid for by cash on hand, perhaps coming from the district's $20 million in reserves. Supt. Mike Sass said last week that the school district could probably reduce that amount to $12.5 million in savings and still maintain a strong credit rating because it would have a quarter of its operating budget saved.

But that's the focus of what the board will talk about tonight: How to finance these projects, and which should come first.

In July, facilities director Bob Nelson presented the board with a list of the top 10 most important building repair projects, which totaled about $6.7 million.

“If repairs were left unattended could result in disrupting our ability to provide a clean, safe and comfortable learning environment," facilities director Bob Nelson said during the July meeting.

The three most expensive projects on the list are also the top three priorities. That includes replacing boiler piping at Bentley and Tyler schools for $819,720, and replacing the water supply/distribution systems at the Bentley/Tyler campus and Haines and Oakview school for about $3.2 million. 

Read "" for the full list of priority projects.