Facilities director seeks $136,000 in vehicle replacements and $20,070 in contractual increases for 2025-26

Greg Phillips, director of facilities for Niagara-Wheatfield Central School District, outlined his department’s 2025–26 requests at the board’s March meeting, saying the package includes modest rises in several annual contracts along with replacement vehicles and one last piece of snow-removal equipment.

Phillips told the board the district is seeking $20,070 of increased spending across several service contracts, citing higher billing-control costs and added monitoring for the high school auditorium. He described a $4,500 increase tied to expanded security-camera monitoring and an annual boiler-prevention contract of $10,500, saying “the technology needed and the manpower to service our boilers has just gotten crazy technical.”

The facilities request also lists equipment replacements under the district’s normal 10–12 year schedule: a pickup truck with plow estimated at $60,000, a cargo van to replace the courier vehicle at $45,000 and a final requested piece of equipment (a Kubota with plow and salter) to support snow removal. Phillips said the total for vehicles and related equipment is $136,000. He noted past purchase prices have risen sharply since 2019.

Phillips summarized staff counts for context: one full-time head custodian, four maintenance personnel, five district laborers for grounds, seven building laborers, 33 full-time cleaners and several part-time cleaners and couriers. He closed by inviting questions, saying, “If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them.”

The board did not take an immediate vote on Phillips’s standalone requests at the meeting; the facilities line items were presented as part of the larger district budget review that will be considered in subsequent hearings.

District finance staff will incorporate these costs into the 2025–26 proposed budget and will return with detailed line-item totals and funding sources at the next budget presentation.