NCSD school board hires firm to appraise district properties

Following the construction of the new Berg Middle School building and the acquisition of additional furniture and classroom equipment in the elementary schools, the Newton Community School District requested a qualified firm conduct a fixed asset inventory, identification and valuation of all properties.

The NCSD Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of the $19,154 bid from Valuations Northwest, Inc., an Idaho-based firm that will verify and significantly update the school district’s current listing of inventory and assets to determine more precise valuations.

According to the school district’s proposal, the firm is to provide the paper documents and electronic files of the results to be uploaded into the administrative software system.

Assets to be incorporated in the appraisal include the land itself and all “district buildings, building fixtures and fixed equipment, improvements other than buildings, machinery and equipment, office furniture and equipment and vehicles.”

The results of the inventory and valuation job, the proposal states, will serve as a basis to meet the following objectives: financial reporting, accountability and control, insurance requirements and capital expenditure planning.

Director of business services Tim Bloom said Valuations Northwest, Inc. previously worked with the City of Newton and is familiar with the town and area. Before the end of the school year, Bloom said the campus principals typically receive detailed packets of information of all the inventory of their schools.

"They included everything," Bloom said. "We realized we needed additional help. This will provide an update … I was more concerned about the things that were no longer here. So this will help as well as having a company come in and update everything."

NCSD Superintendent Bob Callaghan said inventory updates in the past had been done periodically by the technology department. The high school campus, he suggested, will likely have less new information. However, the elementary schools and the new middle school in particular are in need of a more accurate inventory.

Bloom added that everything that costs more than $50 will be counted as inventory. Bret Miller, director of teaching and learning, highlighted the importance of an accurate inventory list even in a campus as small as WEST Academy, where he had previously served as principal.

“We had computers listed that probably hadn’t been in WEST from when they were at Basics & Beyond,” Miller said. “To have an accurate count, then you can hold kids and staff accountable.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com