Board of Education
By Larry Lubin
The purpose of this
report is to outline and explain the Sales Contract between the City and the
Board of Education regarding the Lincoln Elementary School and the Liberty
Administrative/Alternative School. The
writer is a recent member of the Board of Education.
The nature of the
contract is complex. It presupposes a
successful School Facilities Referendum soon to be presented by the Board of
Education. It also includes elements
other than the Lincoln and Liberty buildings and dealing with these elements
entered into the negotiations.
The stated purchase
price is $11.5 million for the two buildings.
This amount, briefly explained will be payable by the City to the Board
of Education as follows:
Upon completion of
all the paperwork and a City funding ordinance, $4.7 million becomes
immediately available for use by the Board of Education as follows:
q
$1.5 million
for capital improvements at Dwight Morrow High School (North Building only) and
Dismus Middle School. This amount would
be non-refundable to the City.
q
$2.5 million
would be made available for use by the Board of Education for special programs
(Pre-K and “match funds” related to recent State legislation of 6/30/03). This payment by the City is theoretically
refundable to the City in the event of a null and void contract prior to
7/31/07.
q
$700,000 is
included in the contract for settlement of the Board of Education debt to the
City. The controversy derives from two
sources: (a) the City’s funding of the Pre-K program and (b) the City’s loan to
the Board for cash flow purposes.
The balance of $6.8
million ($11.5 million minus $4.7 million) will be paid by the City upon the
Board’s termination of a Use and Occupancy Agreement for
Commentary
The total of $11.5
million for approximately four encumbered downtown acres, within a complex set
of circumstances as outlined above, would appear to be a good deal for all
parties, including taxpayers. While it
may be noted that an overall sales price of less than $11.5 million, coupled
with a corresponding increase in a referendum amount, might be beneficial to
the taxpayers in terms of an extended out-of-pocket payment schedule, this is
easier said than done and, in any event, remains a City-School option. Obviously, if in the end, there is not a
successful facilities referendum which has taken advantage of the utilization
of significant State funds, as well as the sale described above, we will all be
losers.
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