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Superintendent: culvert permit submitted; state revenue forecast cuts complicate capital planning
Summary
Superintendent Ben Berry updated the board on facilities work — culvert plans were submitted for city permits and district staff have sought cost estimates — and warned that a statewide revenue forecast shortfall of about $798 million will complicate state-level funding conversations and local priorities.
Superintendent Ben Berry updated the Phoenix-Talent SD 4 board on several facilities and fiscal items, including a culvert project, continued planning for the COBRA master plan and an economic forecast that will affect state education funding.
Berry said culvert plans were reviewed with a contractor (ZCS) and were submitted for city permits last Friday; the plans were also shared with LTM and Bynum to obtain initial cost estimates. He reported district staff are starting preliminary work to support a Boys & Girls Club plot and related site planning as part of broader campus infrastructure efforts.
Berry also told the board that the state revenue forecast issued earlier in the week showed a roughly $798 million downward revision for the next biennium. “It’s down 798,000,000 from our last budget forecast,” he said, and added that the shortfall will limit the legislature’s flexibility on education priorities and create uncertainty about items such as the multi-year ADM hold harmless proposals the district had sought.
On COBRA (a referenced campus master-planning process), board members asked about how costs will be estimated and whether bond funds would pay for early studies. Staff said initial design and estimate work can be paid from the capital bond, and that some CET funds had already been used for initial contracts. No formal vote or appropriation was taken; staff said more detailed design and cost work would be requested as projects move from planning to scope and budgeting.
Ending: District staff will return to the board with permit and estimate updates and with clearer project budgets as the district moves from planning into design and bidding.
