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Board gets budget preview: facilities upgrades, energy profile shifts and new weekend security proposal
Summary
Administrators presented early 2025‑26 budget items including facilities staffing and equipment, energy‑use changes tied to recent capital projects, a proposed weekend mobile security patrol, and a transportation forecast that warns of steeper future costs as bus fleets electrify.
The board on Jan. 8 received an early look at parts of the 2025–26 budget covering facilities, security and transportation and discussed operational implications from recent capital work and the district’s energy projects.
Facilities and maintenance: Facilities director Jim O’Connor said custodial and maintenance staffing and ratios follow a recognized square‑foot metric and that the district currently averages roughly 13,600 sq. ft. per custodian, a level the director said falls between best‑practice tiers. He described completed and planned projects—including door and hardware replacements, circulation pump upgrades, landscape work and upcoming pipe and controller upgrades—and proposed equipment purchases (ride‑on scrubbers, a new tractor, a larger turf‑field groomer and a bucket truck). O’Connor advised that moving the district to the highest custodial standard would require additional full‑time hires and noted ongoing compliance tasks (asbestos triannual inspection, lead testing of water outlets, kitchen suppression and Legionella testing).
Energy and cogeneration: O’Connor said recent HVAC and dehumidification upgrades and the new athletic complex lighting will raise the district’s electricity use compared with the 2018 baseline used to design the solar system, creating a potential to add solar in future phases to offset the higher electric load. He also said the cogeneration unit at the high school had been reactivated under the EPC work and that the district is scheduling utility pressure testing and a service contract with the manufacturer prior to operation.
Security: The district’s security director reviewed accomplishments—shatter‑resistant window film installs, stop‑the‑bleed kits and visitor‑screening procedures—and proposed adding a mobile weekend patrol to provide continuous weekend coverage for all five school sites. The additional weekend mobile patrol was estimated in presentation materials at roughly $81,000 a year; the request would be offset in part by using a cafeteria fund (C fund) staffing line for some monitor positions.
Transportation: The transportation director presented a budget that projects a slight decrease in 2025–26 from current levels through route consolidation despite contract increases. Board members were warned that re‑bidding the contract could produce much larger increases (the district’s attorneys and peer districts reported examples of 30–35% higher bids elsewhere), and that state guidance requiring electric vehicles for new purchases after mid‑2027 will add long‑term cost and charging infrastructure considerations for providers and districts.
Board members asked follow‑ups: to clarify whether recent electrification and building upgrades had been captured in the 2018 energy study (administrators said the district has access to PSEG portal data and would compile recent kWh consumption and production figures), to examine the high school cogeneration reactivation timeline (staff said the EPC addressed repowering and the district is completing meter reactivation and contractor testing), and to consider whether the proposed weekend security patrol should be limited to busy weekends or be year‑round. The board asked the facilities office to provide the contractor and contract language cited for solar guarantees, and to return with updated energy consumption figures for the district.
