What is the process used to determine capital improvements? How does it get determined what work fits in the regular school district operations budget and what needs to be on a bond?
Long-range capital maintenance plans and priorities for each school are developed and refreshed by the district’s Property Services Team. These plans are reviewed each September with building principals for completeness on maintenance items and any additions related to instructional delivery
The CVSD Property Services Manager and district COO review the list in October determining which items can be:
The entire 5-year plan is reviewed with the Finance and Facilities committee during budget development. A summary of the capital projects is reviewed with the Board during the operations budget presentation.
CVSD is a consolidated district. What does that mean for homeowners in each of our towns?
As a consolidated district, residents in all CVSD towns share responsibility for all district facilities; approving and paying for all bonds. Deferring these necessary maintenance repairs will only delay them to another year when they will be more expensive. The proposed bond is projected to cost a homeowner $10 per year for each $100,000 of assessed value before accounting for income sensitivity adjustments or CLA. (Common Level of Appraisal)
What is included in the proposed bond? How are schools in all of our towns impacted?
Additional information can be found on the Capital Construction website, linked from the CVSD Budget page. www.cvsdvt.org/budget
Why are voters just hearing about this bond proposal now?
The CVSD Board has committed to putting the district on a path to a sustainable capital funding strategy to minimize costs and stabilize tax impacts. After a period of catching up, the vision is to present district voters with consistent, small investment requests – stewardship bonds – prioritized to eliminate the need for the large construction projects we have seen in the past, and our neighbors are experiencing now. In the short term though, the investment requests will be a bit higher as we clear up deferred maintenance problems.
Our physical assets are managed by a team of highly-skilled, and very busy, facilities managers. One of the CVSD School Board’s first acts after consolidation was to centralize the facilities team in order to achieve operational efficiencies and take advantage of economies of scale. The board also addressed how to manage and prioritize capital needs.
While Shelburne Community School and Williston Central School had significant deferred maintenance problems that were addressed with their recent bonds, the CVSD board has directed that we respect the tax burden already in place in our community by holding the cost of the first phase of the Charlotte project to a minimum. We are not alone in facing the reality of a backlog of deferred maintenance as Burlington ($70M), Winooski ($58M), South Burlington ($209M) and in fact, the rest of Vermont are all struggling to maintain school facilities in the face of the 13-year moratorium on school construction aid. We are grateful that our own needs are on a much smaller scale.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Please direct any further questions to the CVSD School Board cvsdboard@cvsdvt.org
Long-range capital maintenance plans and priorities for each school are developed and refreshed by the district’s Property Services Team. These plans are reviewed each September with building principals for completeness on maintenance items and any additions related to instructional delivery
The CVSD Property Services Manager and district COO review the list in October determining which items can be:
- funded through the operational budget
- funded with existing construction funds
- large projects grouped for potential biennial bond requests
The entire 5-year plan is reviewed with the Finance and Facilities committee during budget development. A summary of the capital projects is reviewed with the Board during the operations budget presentation.
CVSD is a consolidated district. What does that mean for homeowners in each of our towns?
As a consolidated district, residents in all CVSD towns share responsibility for all district facilities; approving and paying for all bonds. Deferring these necessary maintenance repairs will only delay them to another year when they will be more expensive. The proposed bond is projected to cost a homeowner $10 per year for each $100,000 of assessed value before accounting for income sensitivity adjustments or CLA. (Common Level of Appraisal)
What is included in the proposed bond? How are schools in all of our towns impacted?
- At Hinesburg, we are addressing deteriorating parking lots and sidewalks, and upgrading the air quality on the second floor of the main building.
- At CVU, the bond will fund energy efficiency improvements in the 1981 wing, overdue field drainage improvements on two natural grass fields and a resurfacing of the 15-year-old track.
- At Shelburne Community School, funds will be used to bring the cafeteria’s kitchen into compliance with current code and to repave the parking and drop off / pick-up lot on School Street.
- And at the Allen Brook School, the bond will fund a fire alarm system upgrade to current life/safety code and additional multiple improvements needed to improve security.
Additional information can be found on the Capital Construction website, linked from the CVSD Budget page. www.cvsdvt.org/budget
Why are voters just hearing about this bond proposal now?
The CVSD Board has committed to putting the district on a path to a sustainable capital funding strategy to minimize costs and stabilize tax impacts. After a period of catching up, the vision is to present district voters with consistent, small investment requests – stewardship bonds – prioritized to eliminate the need for the large construction projects we have seen in the past, and our neighbors are experiencing now. In the short term though, the investment requests will be a bit higher as we clear up deferred maintenance problems.
Our physical assets are managed by a team of highly-skilled, and very busy, facilities managers. One of the CVSD School Board’s first acts after consolidation was to centralize the facilities team in order to achieve operational efficiencies and take advantage of economies of scale. The board also addressed how to manage and prioritize capital needs.
While Shelburne Community School and Williston Central School had significant deferred maintenance problems that were addressed with their recent bonds, the CVSD board has directed that we respect the tax burden already in place in our community by holding the cost of the first phase of the Charlotte project to a minimum. We are not alone in facing the reality of a backlog of deferred maintenance as Burlington ($70M), Winooski ($58M), South Burlington ($209M) and in fact, the rest of Vermont are all struggling to maintain school facilities in the face of the 13-year moratorium on school construction aid. We are grateful that our own needs are on a much smaller scale.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Please direct any further questions to the CVSD School Board cvsdboard@cvsdvt.org
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