EASTON, Pa. — Easton Area School Board on Tuesday approved a resolution letting the district repay its general fund for money used to cover costs tied to major capital projects, including the new high school.
The resolution was required for EASD to express its intent to use the reimbursement program.
Under the resolution, the district is able to apply general fund money, capital reserves or existing bond funds to pay for expenditures linked to capital projects such as the new high school.
"It's money that would have been spent on the high school anyway: We set them aside money for the high school, and now we can reimburse those funds that came out of our general money into the high school project.”Easton School District Chief Financial Officer Jack Trent
Those funds can be used for fees and expenses linked to contractors, engineers, architects, surveyors, lawyers, underwriters, advertising costs, filing fees, printing costs, acquiring land or rights of way, permits and inspection fees, and costs associated with the acquisition and construction project facilities.
EASD then will be held responsible for reimbursing its own general fund within 18 months of the date the original expenditure is paid or from the date when the projects are placed in service or abandoned, whichever comes last, but no more than three years after the original expenditure is paid.
“So up until this point, we've been funding the project out of a bond we already have in our capital reserve," EASD Chief Financial Officer Jack Trent said.
"However, in the last budget, we started to set aside money for the high school project, I believe it's $3.1 million.
"And what that reimbursement resolution does is it allows us to reimburse, out of that $3.1 million for a high school project, the funds we've been using out of our general fund.
“So it's money that would have been spent on the high school anyway: We set them aside money for the high school, and now we can reimburse those funds that came out of our general money into the high school project.”
'Just going to help us out'
Trent said this move will let the district protect general fund money intended for “anything that benefits the students.”
“I don’t know if the new high school project right now directly benefits the students,” he said.
Assistant Superintendent for District Operations and Services Josh Ziatyk described the resolution as a simple method to ensure payment.
"We don't have to use it, but it's there in case we need to.”Assistant Superintendent for District Operations and Services Josh Ziatyk
“Essentially, it's something that is just going to help us out in case we need to go back and request, you know, money be paid out of the bonds that we're taking out right now,” Ziatyk said.
“So then, we don't take out of the general fund. We need that reimbursed as we go throughout that project. It's something that’s just beneficial to the district.
"We don't have to use it, but it's there in case we need to.”
The new high school, with a projected cost of $298 million, is planned for the grounds of the existing high school in the northeast corner of the property, where a baseball field currently stands.
Phase one of the project is set to run from May 2027 to May 2028.
It will include building the rear construction access and staging area, demolishing the natatorium and tennis courts, building the turf and grass baseball fields, demolishing of the varsity baseball field and initial stormwater management construction.
Phase two, which is set to run from May 2028 to August 2030, would entail constructing the high school while keeping the existing high school and remainder of the site open.
Phase three, running from early 2030 through July 2031, will include early demolition of the existing athletic wing, final demolition of the old high school, and site work surrounding the new high school and along William Penn Highway.
