INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — To build or not to build? That was the question considered Tuesday afternoon by the Indian River School Board and superintendent. Should School District administrators and staff stay in the current one-story meandering building, which was built in 1950 as the county hospital, or build new?
To help them make a decision, four School Board members and Superintendent Dr. Fran Adams listened to the numbers yesterday.
The current building, which is 26,775 square feet, would cost $4.3 million to renovate and would require a new roof and cooling-heating system, as well as major plumbing and interior renovations. That total includes more than $1 million dollars for a temporary home in rented portables.
Facilities Director Scott Sanders estimated that a new 39,575 square-foot building would cost approximately $7.3 million. It would likely be built on the 146 acres owned by the School District near Storm Grove Middle School.
The money for a new building would not require going to taxpayers to approve additional debt. Instead, it would come from money that is — or would be — in the capital funds of the county school system.
The cost breakdown: $5.7 million to build; $575,000 for engineers and architects; $575,000 for equipment in the building; $340,000 for a technology center and $75,000 for fiber optics connections.
Carter Morrison, assistant superintendent for finances, reminded the School Board and superintendent that the $7.3 million price tag was an estimate on the high side.
“It could be six but it’s better to ask for seven, just in case,” he said.
The money would come from: $4.87 million cash on hand; $1 million from the sale of the land where the old Osceola Middle School was; $450,000 from the sale of the Pleasant Ridge property and the transfer of $1 million from the Vero Beach High School offsite chiller project funds, where another $2 million is available if needed.
School Board member Matt McCain, who previously expressed reservations about the need to go build anew, asked Sanders if using cash-on-hand would delay the building and renovating of schools.
The response was no.
School Board member Claudia Jimenez said she thought they needed a better understanding of the finances, after Morrison said the school system could also borrow money.
“That would be problematic,” said Jimenez. Adding, “I can’t help but ask: Does this (new building) need to be a priority when we have so many money problems on the operating and budget side? Is this the best use of funds? Teachers don’t have the best salaries.”
Jimenez mentioned a referendum in Collier County that allowed capital funds to be transferred to the operating budget, which includes teachers’ salaries. A similar scenario could possibly play out in Indian River County, said Jimenez.
“About half of the (cost of the new building) would have to go to this building,” said School Board member Karen Disney-Brombach, who expressed support for a new building.
“If not now, when? If not us, who?” she asked.
Superintendent Dr. Fran Adams said that a new building would be a multi-purpose educational facility. School Board Chair Carol Johnson said it didn’t make sense to spend $4.3 million on making the current structure “still habitable.”
“That is throwing money away,” she said. “We may as well open the windows and throw out $4.3 million.”
“We’ll spend $4.3 million on this building and something else will have to be done,” Disney-Brombach said.
McCain, who did not respond, had said before the meeting: “Sometimes, the old buildings are sturdier than the new ones.”
