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A rendering of the new Celina High School gymnasium.
CELINA - School board members chose to scrap or scale back numerous features of the new school buildings to stay within budget rather than go back and ask voters for additional money.
Board members at Monday night's special meeting indicated that a master athletic facilities plans will almost certainly have to be undertaken in multiple phases over the course of years due to constrained funding.
A few dozen community members showed up at the high school lecture hall to hear an update on building project costs and a master athletic facility plan.
The building project, a partnership between the school district and the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC), was originally budgeted at $106.6 million but ballooned to $121.7 million due to a host of factors, according to board member Mark Huelsman, who led the presentation.
"You see our cost has gone up pretty significantly," he said.
The district's $60 million from a bond has accrued $3 million that went back into the project budget, but the board still had to account for a significant shortfall.
"We had two choices. We could either cover these increased costs with LFI (locally funded initiatives) funds that we already had in our account or we could pass that onto the public and pass another levy to raise more money to cover those costs," Huelsman said. "The past board and our current board has elected to use those LFI funds to cover those additional costs, not asking for additional funds."
OFCC is contributing $57.9 million or 49% of the project cost. LFIs are considered integral to and/or a part of the state co-funded project while Locally Funded Other (LFO) are solely the financial obligation of the school district, Huelsman explained.
Board members started out with $21.6 million in LFI/LFO funding.
For the elementary building project, they pursued additional square footage, security upgrades, an Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible playground, a metal roof and reprogramed cafeteria space into offices, all with LFI dollars.
To save money, however, they scrapped terrazzo main corridors and brick exterior at the new elementary school, and additional square footage, a fixed seat auditorium, metal roof, terrazzo main corridors and a brick exterior at the new high school which construction started on this month.
Also, rather than going with a fixed-seat auditorium, board members opted for an auditeria/cafetorium with custom chairs that retract like bleachers.
A rendering of the new Celina High School cafetorium.
A schematic of the new Celina High School cafetorium.
Of the total LFI/LFO funds, $17.45 million has already been spent.
"Sixty percent of that money was due to increased construction costs, so right now we have a balance of $4,146,394," Huelsman said.
Board members still must decide on a list of alternate features totaling $1.7 million for the high school building.
If they elect to go forward with all of them, including $567,000 for auditeria/cafetorium bleachers, they would be left with $2.43 million in LFI/LFO funding.
A schematic of the new Celina High School and grounds.
Board members have set in stone a number of master plan items but others are still up in the air and will be decided with help from the community. Board president Carl Huber said the district will employ surveys, potentially through the Mercer County ESC, to garner feedback.
The CAPT building will be retained and the existing middle school building will be reprogramed for other needs. The Tri-Star addition, too, will be kept but its future use is undetermined at this time.
The existing tennis courts and varsity soccer field will remain where they are while the future track and field will be relocated to the northeast of the new grades 7-12 building.
Critical and costly decisions, though, must be made by next spring about the other athletic facilities. For instance it would cost $3.5 million to build a new track with 500 seats and another $2.5 million to put a football field inside it with an additional 4,500 seats.
OFCC will co-fund the abatement and demolition of the field house and education complex building. The state recommends abatement and demolition due to the building's condition, but it's ultimately up to the district.
It would cost an estimated $978,000 to $1.2 million just to "button up" the fieldhouse. The estimate does not include any major renovations, enchantments or other upgrades.
The estimate to "button up" the Tri Star addition is $473,000, plus an additional $1.9 million to repurpose it for guest locker rooms, restrooms, a concession area, ticket booth, wrestling space and storage.
The school board meets next at 6 p.m. Nov. 18 in the high school lecture hall.
