Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home School District Budget Committee Thursday approved a $50 million budget for the 2017-18 school year.
The committee incorporated the $4 million bond levy approved by voters last week and $4 million matching grant funds from the state. The bulk of the funds will remodel and improve the Sweet Home Junior High facilities. Other buildings around the district will receive a variety of improvements, including security upgrades.
The committee approved the budget after a brief question-and-answer session.
During the session, School Board Chairman Mike Reynolds asked why the budget includes only $500,000 in state seismic grant funds for each of three elementary schools, Foster, Holley and Hawthorne, when the grants were for about $1.5 million each.
Business Manager Kevin Strong said that the bulk of the seismic upgrades will be done in 2018 and 2019, so the committee could expect to see more of the money included in the 2018-19 budget.
Strong elaborated on the details of the grants and the projects.
The grant process is competitive, he said, and Oak Heights did not qualify.
Grants were awarded based on a cost-benefit analysis, Strong said. The state looked at the amount of damage to buildings and contents, displacement costs and number of casualities that could be prevented. by an upgrade. The number of possible casualties carried the most weight among the criteria.
“The good news for Oak Heights is they were assessed to be the safest school of our elementary schools to be in,” Strong said. “If this program continues, we’re going to continue to submit applications for Oak Heights.”
Holley scored the highest among Sweet Home schools in the grant process.
“It’s to bring buildings up to life safety standards,” Strong said. “The idea is that everyone that’s in it will be able to safely get out.”
A higher standard, called “immediate occupancy,” is used for fire departments and hospitals, Strong said.
The district is in the beginning construction stages of a $1.4 million grant-funded seismic upgrade to the Sweet Home High School auditorium.
The program is rooted in the spring break earthquake centered in Scotts Mills in 1993, Strong said. The quake damaged the Capitol building in Salem, as well as Molalla High School.
Legislators initially began discussing upgrades to the Capitol, Strong said, and later included schools and other facilities in that discussion.
“When you listen to all of the experts, our region is overdue,” Strong said. Oregon isn’t like Southern California, with relatively frequent major quakes every 10 to 20 years.
“We live in an area where every 250 to 500 years it’s a huge earthquake. That’s what we’re preparing for.”
In other areas, the budget shows an increase in temporary salaries from $48,000 per year to $85,000 per year to cover a temporary position in maintenance and provide funding for minimum wage increases for lifeguards.
Public Employees Retirement System rates continue to increase, Strong said. Statewide, the liability is “estimated at a mind-boggling number, $22 billion.”
In some areas the total salary expenses are decreasing, based on new hires who are lower on the salary schedule, Strong said, while the total number of classified employees is increasing by about 20 because they will work more hours per week under the five-day week, which returns next school year.
“I really feel like it’s a fiscally conservative budget,” said Miriam Hooley. “I am pleased with what you presented, particularly that you were able almost ($1.5 million) in reserves. I think that’s phenomenal.”
The budget moves next to the School Board for a hearing and adoption during its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on June 12.
Present at the meeting were Jenny Daniels, Angela Clegg, Debra Brown, Carol Babcock, Jason Redick, Mike E. Adams, Mike Reynolds, Jocelyn Gordo, Ben Emmert, Don Hopkins and Miriam Hooley.
Absent were Chanz Keeney, Jason Van Eck and Brittany Donnell.