San Jon's new school might come with little additional debt

SAN JON — San Jon Municipal Schools might receive a $30 million state grant to build a new school in exchange for less than $250,000 in new debt by the district.

Superintendent Alan Umholtz said during the board’s July 12 meeting that New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority officials essentially have sweetened the offer for the proposed grant. He said the only requirement would be for the district to add $200,000 to $230,000 in bond debt.

Umholtz said he anticipates the board will vote on a resolution during its August meeting to put such a general-obligation bond issue on the November ballot.

He said the board could approve a technology note for a similar sum without voter approval, but he said he prefers a referendum so it could demonstrate community support for a new school building.

During a board meeting in December, the district’s bond adviser said state officials preferred San Jon to build a new school instead of spending millions of dollars on temporary repairs to its aging facilities. San Jon’s buildings were built as early as the 1970s.

The new facility would be built on adjacent land, and the project would include refurbishing the football, baseball and softball fields. Anticipated construction time would be about 18 months, though the district could elect to do renovations or a hybrid of renovations and new construction.

Ian Harmon, the district’s project manager, said the San Jon board will have to approve a five-year facility master plan within the next few months to be eligible for the $30 million grant.

The district in 2019 was issued a so-called “big grant” from the state of $2.8 million for various repairs and improvements to facilities.

But Harmon said that grant wasn’t nearly big enough “to fix what’s broke” with district buildings.

He said the cost to repair all the “pretty bad” roofs would be about $8 million. Umholtz said the district recently used $15,000 to make temporary fixes to its roofs and estimated another $17,000 would be spent soon for more repairs.

Harmon said the district needs to replace its boiler for $800,000. Replacing the boiler system’s “bad and failing” piping would cost another $2 million. He said the pipes are more than 50% blocked with mineral deposits.

Harmon said the district also needs new flooring and improvements to sidewalks, fencing, parking lot and drainage.

“It was apparent we had a big issue correcting what is wrong with this facility,” Harmon said. “It might be a better idea to build a new school.”

Instead of using the insufficient big grant for roof and boiler repairs, Harmon said it could be used for design fees from Formative Architecture of Albuquerque, the district’s architect, for the new school.

In other business:

— The board approved action to hold a so-called “garage sale” in the next two weeks to dispose of surplus furniture. Many of the district’s desks and chairs were replaced with COVID-19 relief funds. Business manager Stormi Sena estimated at least 100 desks were in storage.

— The board tabled an executive session to discuss Umholtz’s contract to August because two board members, including board President Frank Gibson, were absent.