ROBBINSVILLE: Energy savings helps finance school facility fixes

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
   ROBBIINSVILLE — The school district will make nearly $4 million in facility upgrades at no cost to taxpayers by replacing inefficient equipment and using the savings generated by “greener” technology to finance the work.
   The Energy Savings Improvement Plan that the Board of Education approved July 31 with Honeywell Building Solutions also provided a second benefit. The use of an ESIP to finance some of the eligible building upgrades at Sharon Elementary and Pond Road Middle School enabled the district to scale back the cost of a planned Dec. 11 school facilities voter referendum by almost $1 million.
   Earlier this summer, before the ESIP was signed, the district had projected needing a $20 million referendum for repairs and building additions. The ESIP made it possible to reduce the referendum to $18.96 million, which the school board is hoping will be more palatable to voters.
   ”Developing the ESIP and the proposed referendum simultaneously reflects outstanding forethought and creative thinking by the Robbinsville Board of Education,” Superintendent Steve Mayer said in a statement issued Monday.
   The projects proposed in the referendum include renovating the oldest sections of Sharon School (floors, ceilings, windows and lighting), renovating and expanding the cafeterias at Sharon and Pond Road, adding five classrooms at Pond and 24 classrooms at Sharon and adding a new gymnasium at Sharon.
   ”These additions and renovations will permit Sharon School to house grades pre-K to four and Pond Road School to house grades five to eight into the foreseeable future,” Dr. Mayer said.
   Voters rejected a $39.6 million referendum in 2010 that would have paid for a new standalone elementary school and repairs at both Sharon and Pond schools. Since then, overcrowding has worsened (the district is now 337 students over capacity), and the school board has worked to devise a less expensive alternative to address both kindergarten through eight overcrowding and problems in older facilities.
   ”Authorizing the ESIP represents the end of many months of auditing and prioritizing needs and permits the district to use energy savings to fund much needed repairs to failing equipment,” Dr. Mayer said. “It also permits cost-avoidance to be applied to other facility problems such as the leaky roof at Pond Road School and the need for HVAC system controls.”
   State law allows school districts to contract for ESIPs with energy services companies that cover the upfront costs of major facility upgrades, which districts repay over 15 years using the annual savings generated through the use of the new energy-efficient equipment.
   ESIPs allow school districts to avoid large financial outlays for capital projects such as the repair or replacement of building HVAC systems, mechanical controls, windows, doors, boilers and leaky roofs.
   ”The savings that comes from the capital improvements is how we pay for this over the next 15 years,” school Business Administrator Bob Devita said Monday.