Superintendent Dr. Jack Parker says they purchase three to five buses a year to add to their fleet to accommodate their growing numbers.
Lacey Watt | Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — The Board of School Trustees of the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation approved the use of school funds for two projects that would help with maintenance of the school and buses.
Dr. Greg Elkins, chief financial officer, announced two projects to help Mt. Vernon schools at the board meeting. One project will help the possible maintenance of the schools, such as roofing, site and athletics improvements, any building renovations and the future purchasing of equipment and technology.
The other project would be similar, but will aid in the maintenance and proposed purchases of school buses and vehicles.
Despite just having the public hearing, these projects will not begin prior to Jan 1, 2025, and will have no tax impact before 2026. Each project can be completed depending on the need determined by the board, which could be in full, in part, or not at all.
Each project will have up to $6,105,000, depending over the next few years on how much the board chooses to fund. Elkins said instead of an annual increment, they are setting a potential lump sum all into one project.
“Until any legislative changes, these projects are good forever until we spend the $6 million,” Elkins said in the board meeting last Monday.
Elkins also mentioned the projects are not controlled, which means they don’t have to go through any other legal steps, just approval and consideration from the board. Because each project does not exceed $6,106,216, they are considered not controlled projects.
The action the board took Monday night approved the ability to use the funds.
“They can choose to do it in much smaller pieces over the next several years, which is likely what they’ll do,” Dr. Jack Parker, superintendent of Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation said.
Parker says they always purchase three to five buses a year to aid the growing number of students and to replace buses that are older than 10 years because they get more expensive to repair and may not pass inspection.
Parker says they also have been intentional about stewardship projects to ensure saving of future dollars. Some of those projects included replacing HVAC systems and switching to LED lighting systems.
“The cost of energy has increased in the last handful of years, yet our expenditures for energy really have relatively remained the same,” Parker said. “We’re really focusing on future cost avoidance with our stewardship projects for maintaining our buildings.”
The two projects should have no tax impact, and Parker says their plan is to not only see an overall decrease in school tax, but specifically the debt service rate tax. A goal is to decrease their school tax at least 30 cents in the next several years.
“We’re very future focused,” Parker said. “We have 10-year plans for the growth of our district as well as our financial future. We’re working very hard to keep our tax rate down and decrease the tax rate but also take care of our facilities and bus fleet so that we don’t have to have the headache and spend a lot more money in the future.”
