District studies 3.4% tax increase Northampton Area will have to deal with mold,

[Guest guest]

District studies 3.4% tax increase

Northampton Area will have to deal with mold, overruns later.

town Morning Call - town,PA*

By Duck | Of The Morning Call

May 6, 2008

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-

b7_4nasd.6394034may06,0,2750126.story

Between an expensive mold problem at a Bath elementary school and

cost overruns in high school renovations, there was little good

financial news Monday in Northampton Area School District.

School directors met Monday to sign off on the district's

preliminary $78.2 million 2008-09 budget, which includes a 3.44

percent property tax increase.

At the same meeting, the board approved more than $82,000 in extra

expenses in the ongoing Northampton Area High School renovations,

which already have exceeded their $45.6 million budget.

And district officials don't know yet how much it will cost to

remove the mold found last month inside walls at Bath's Wolf

Elementary, where many students and teachers have had respiratory

problems for years. The school is already in the middle of a $17.2

million renovation, and the price of dealing with the mold easily

could add millions to the cost.

Those extra expenses shouldn't add to next year's tax hike, but they

could signal trouble for the following year.

''I'm very concerned,'' Superintendent Firestone told the

board during a discussion Monday about spending an extra $3 million

to overhaul Wolf's heating and cooling systems.

''I'd love to do that,'' she said, but ''I do not think the district

has money to spend $3 million extra.''

The board agreed and decided to look instead at a less expensive

plan -- suggested by School Director Madelyn Kemp -- to replace the

in-classroom heating and cooling units instead of gutting the whole

system.

Next school year, Wolf's 700 students might move into

Bethlehem's former Northeast Middle School. On Monday, the Bethlehem

Area School Board's facilities committee agreed to move forward with

a lease agreement.

With Wolf to be shut down while crews get rid of the mold,

Firestone said moving students from Bath to the old Northeast

building is ''the best option we have.''

Bethlehem Area Superintendent ph agreed that renting the

space to Northampton would benefit both districts. The rent money

would mean Bethlehem officials wouldn't have to spend upwards of

$250,000 to ''mothball'' the old Northeast building until it is torn

down.

While officials figure out how much the move to Bethlehem will cost

Northampton, Firestone said she's also getting an estimated cost for

dealing with the mold. She hopes to have that number by the board's

May 19 meeting.

Meanwhile, construction crews renovating Northampton's 50-year-old

high school have been uncovering costly surprises inside the

walls. ''Every day we're finding new things,'' said Haller of

D'Huy Engineering, which is overseeing the project. For example,

Haller said, a steel support beam at the front of the school turned

out to have rusted away at its base.

The project's budget had included roughly $1.5 million for

unexpected expenses, but that money was used up months ago.

The preliminary district budget approved Monday would raise the

school property tax rate to 42.35 mills, so a homeowner with

property assessed at the district average of $54,100 would pay

roughly $2,291 per year, or about $76 more than in 2007-08.

Reporter Steve Esack contributed to this story.