District architect warns maintenance needs outstrip $1.5M major-maintenance budget; committee urges review of fund-balance policy

A presentation to the Kenosha School District’s Audit, Budget and Finance Committee detailed a broad set of capital and maintenance needs across district facilities and prompted a committee recommendation that the full school board review fund-balance policy 3323.

John Sutter, the district architect and facilities director–elect, told the committee that the major maintenance budget stands at $1,500,000 this year, down from a prior $2,000,000 figure. “My main goal is to keep our buildings watertight and operational,” Sutter said as he walked members through roofing, asphalt, HVAC, plumbing and security priorities across the district’s roughly 30 schools. Sutter said the district manages about 2,000,000 square feet of roof area and nearly 4,800,000 square feet of asphalt valued in the tens of millions of dollars, which creates a long-term backlog of costly repairs.

The presentation included project specifics: a drainage remediation and repaving phase at Indian Trail, expected roof-life and PASER-based asphalt priorities, multi-hundred-thousand-dollar estimates for elementary boiler replacements, and multi-million-dollar retrofit estimates to add air conditioning to some older buildings. Sutter also outlined seven remaining controlled-entrance projects to tighten school access; staff said a failed referendum had previously targeted some of these projects but that updated design work reduced the earlier estimate from roughly $12.5 million to a package closer to $9.5 million.

Staff and teachers raised operational concerns. A Tremper High School staff member described active water intrusion in classrooms and hallways: “There are buckets up and down both of our hallways collecting 6, 8 inches of water a day,” the staff member said, asking whether warranties covered recent work. Facilities staff said control-valve failures were under warranty and that crews and the construction manager were coordinating repairs.

CFO Tarek Hampton reviewed fund-balance basics and comparables, noting that fund balance is not the same as spendable cash and is measured at fiscal-year end. Hampton reported an unassigned fund-balance of about $67.5 million as of 06/30/2024, explained that the district adopted a budget that would draw on reserves by roughly $790,000 plus carryovers if fully spent, and reiterated the policy goal of avoiding short-term borrowing. He noted that investment earnings recently added nearly $1.8–$2.0 million to operations, which the district uses for recurring costs.

Committee members debated whether policy 3323’s hard percentage thresholds create public confusion and suggested replacing percentage language with clearer guidance similar to a Fort Atkinson exemplar that focuses on avoiding short-term borrowing and meeting long-term goals. After discussion, the committee made a recommendation by show of hands that the full board review policy 3323 to consider removing or revising the percentage minimum/maximums. The recommendation is advisory and will be placed on a future board agenda.

Next steps: staff will circulate detailed project lists and cost estimates; the committee’s recommendation will go to the full board for consideration of policy 3323 and capital prioritization.