Juneau voters will not be asked to approve new debt to fund school facilities maintenance in the Oct. 6 municipal election.
Instead, the Assembly Finance Committee last week unanimously recommended partially funding the school district request with $800,000 in leftover sales tax revenue.
The district anticipates spending about $300,000 to hire experts to write a comprehensive facilities plan. The balance will be used on deferred maintenance, says Superintendent Mark Miller.
“Clearly, safety of both our students and the environment, are very high on that list,” Miler says.
The particular projects haven’t been chosen, Miller says, but they’re likely to come from a list of about $2.6 million in priority projects school officials presented in June.
At the time, the school district asked the Assembly for $1.3 million in municipal bonds, subject to voter approval. The $800,000 isn’t what school officials were seeking but it will suffice, he says.
“It’s good for the school district. We can certainly use it to make sure that don’t have any catastrophic failures and that we kind of keep things up and running as best we can,” Miller says.
Though all members sit on the Finance Committee, they must meet as the full Assembly to finalize the transfer.
