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Council approves debt-limit exception, $17.02 million bond for Rochester City School District facility projects
Summary
Rochester—s committee approved a debt-limit exception and authorized $17,020,000 in bonds to fund renovations and upgrades across several Rochester City School District buildings and joint-use facilities.
The Budget, Finance and Governance Committee voted to approve a resolution exempting certain Rochester City School District projects from the 2024-25 debt limit and authorized the issuance of $17,020,000 in municipal bonds to finance improvements at school and joint-use facilities.
Jacob Scott and Tom Casa of the Rochester City School District briefed the committee on project details. Casa listed a series of projects funded through the requested borrowing: a $500,000 project at School 5 to add parking on Verona Street and reposition the baseball field and bring the city playground closer to the school; a $800,000 project at School 12 and the Douglas Academy primarily to enlarge a kitchen and provide upgraded cooking facilities; and a combined project at School 19 that includes a roof replacement for the school portion and a fire alarm replacement and exterior facade work at the rec center (about $800,000 earmarked for the rec-center portion).
The district will also address drainage and pool filtration at the Rochester Early College International High School (formerly School 3) including parking-lot resurfacing and reorganization, slate-roof replacement and repointing at School 52 along with parking-lot resurfacing, grade-level accommodations and a security checkpoint modification at Freddie Thomas, fire alarm upgrades and a rooftop air conditioner at the Loretta Johnson site (formerly Wilson Foundation on Genesee Street), and field lighting and auditorium stage-lighting upgrades at Monroe High School.
Committee members sought clarity on why the request was before council given some projects are under way; Scott and Casa explained the district uses the city—s borrowing capacity for joint facilities and said the district requested the debt-limit exception because the projects involve city-owned facilities. Council member Monroe asked whether pool access or secure entry would be affected at Freddie Thomas; Casa said the school and pool are not commonly used by the public during school hours at Freddie Thomas and described alarm and camera measures on locker-room exits to alert staff if the public enters during restricted times.
On timing, Casa said some work is slated for the coming summer (School 5 and School 12 projects) while the rec-center portion at School 19 is scheduled for next summer; mechanical equipment such as chillers may arrive in the fall and be swapped then, creating phased impacts during the school year. City and district staff said they will coordinate to minimize disruption to summer programming.
The committee voted to approve the debt-limit exception (Introductory 58) and then adopted an ordinance authorizing the issuance of $17,020,000 in bonds (Introductory 59). Both motions passed by voice vote with no recorded opposition.
