COLFAX – With an estimated $1.9 million accumulated from the statewide penny sales tax over the years, Colfax-Mingo CSD leaders have been hard at work creating a long-term facility plan in recent months.
“Do we want to upgrade our facilities? Do we want to get as much money as possible for the future? Without that plan and without this conversation, we are not in a position to spend a large amount of money until we have that in place,” superintendent Jim Verlengia said. “The community needs to be in that conversation as well.”
According to Debra Hodgson, C-M board secretary, the sale tax dollars were previously used to purchase revenue bonds to fund a major project for the addition and remodeling at Colfax-Mingo High School. She said these funds were restricted for this project, and were not available for any other building project.
“We paid off the revenue bond in 2013 or 2014,” Hodgson said. “Since then, we have been able to accumulate those monies and use them on building projects and to plan for future building projects ... We couldn’t use this money for anything besides this project.”
The board secretary said historically, C-M receives about $700,000 a year for this fund. As the sales tax money is intended to be used on school infrastructure, from maintaining school facilities to upgrading technology, the funds have slowly accumulated over the last three or four years.
“We do use the funds for some minor projects, but we can’t buy text books with this money. We can’t hire teachers with this money. There is a very specific definition on what we can do with the funding,” Verlengia said. “This is really a unique opportunity for districts to use it on rather large capital projects.”
In December’s regular meeting, the C-M leaders discussed a facility plan that was conducted a couple years ago in regards to the potential future additions and upgrades at the elementary and Jr/Sr high schools.
This plan included a sports complex for the Colfax-Mingo Community School District, including a new gym, weight room, wrestling room and track. The plan also included additional classroom space at the high school. The plan also included for the elementary school renovate and restructure the school, remodel the restrooms, add a few classrooms, remodel the gym and purchase new classroom furniture.
The original total estimated cost for the projects at the high school were originally projected at $6.707 million, and $1.545 million at the elementary school. According to the superintendent, the projected prices may increase by six to 10 percent.
Verlengia said as the plan was done several years ago, the facilitty priorities of the schools may have changed.
“If we decide to do a major building project, that is going to need some bonding. That means we will have to get a passing from the people,” the superintendent said. “We are working very hard and the future is really bright.”
Another facility that has been a main focus of the district over the years is the old middle school building in Mingo.
The board approved a $45,925 repair at the middle school during a special meeting Oct. 26.
According to Verlengia, the old middle school building in Mingo received a substantial amount of water damage in the spring due to a failure of a float switch on a boiler fed water tank. The water has since been shut off. The boiler provided heating for the area of the facility that includes the gymnasium.
District officials said this move was a step in creating a long-term plan for the facility, as the lack of heating at the middle school could present some major long-term issues for the facility.
The district will soon be faced with the decision on how they would like to proceed with the facility.
Over the past couple months, the school leadership have been discussing how they would long to begin to formulate the long-term plans for this facility. They said they hope to create focus groups, surveys and potentially hold an open forum to receive community input.
“Not everything in those funds will be used for brick and motor. Some of it would be in the area of technology,” the superintendent said. “Our goal is give the board with a long-term facility plan, on-going, constantly growing and flexible, that they can use to do kind of facility planning they need to do short and long term. I am excited.”
Hodgson said recent projects the sales tax dollars have funded included new windows at the elementary school, groundwork for a drainage project and facility conversation measures.
“It is nice to know that we have this funding available so we can address the short-term emergencies and our short-term needs,” Verlengia said. “Everyone wants their kids to go to a school that is modern. Everyone wants to go to a school that is safe. Any addition and/or updates we can do to ensure that environment for our kids is a plus for us.”
The statewide penny sales tax is scheduled to expire in 2029.
Contact Anthony Victor Reyes at areyes@jaspercountytribune.com.