The Salem School Board on July 29 authorized spending up to $146,500 from the remaining Woodbury renovation account (original project total $48.9 million) to buy rooftop unit maintenance, athletic mats and storage, a personnel lift, a tractor-mounted snow plow, and two floor-cleaning machines. Assistant Superintendent Debbie Payne told the board the remaining balance in the Woodbury account is $208,970 and that the requested items would improve building operations and reduce wear-and-tear related moves of shared equipment.

“We'd like to include the rooftop unit one-year contract and these remaining items with the remaining funds,” Payne said, explaining the purchases would include equipment that otherwise would be proposed in the FY26-27 budget. The administration estimated the purchases at just under $147,000.

Board members asked whether any remaining funds would be closed out in the spring; Payne said the administration will work with legal counsel to prepare language for a warrant article to reallocate any leftover funds to the district's unreserved fund balance or other disposition as required by law. The motion to authorize the described expenditures from the Woodbury renovation balance passed 5-0.

The board recorded the action as a one-time approval to purchase operational equipment using the renovation account; remaining funds and any accrued interest will be returned to the board with formal legal language for final disposition in the spring if necessary.