LIVONIA, NY — Livonia School District residents will vote on an $8.4 million capital improvement project on Wednesday. Dec. 16. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Primary School gymnasium. A public information forum will be held two days before, on Monday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. in the gymnasium.

“The project is planned so as to make it as much state-aidable as possible, so that the burden on the district taxpayer is lessened — so that our costs fall into line with the current tax levy,” said School Superintendent Scott Bischoping.

Included in the overall project are 36 sub-projects located at the Primary School and the High School. With the exception of the $1.7 million re-roofing the primary building (excluding the large gym and Butler wing) which would be accomplished in 2010, all the improvements would not be bid until the autumn of 2010, with work accomplished during the 2011-12 school year.

Included are a variety of improvements to enhance security, safety, egress, ventilation and handicap accessibility. The High School auditorium would be the recipient of lighting, sound and physical improvements including an expanded outside lobby and restroom and new orchestral pit. Other noteworthy elements in the High School project would be a greenhouse for the science wing, five new tennis courts, a demonstration solar panel system, and upgrades for the technology data network system.

In view of the current state budget crisis, Bischoping is aware of concerns over the possibility of the state being unable to come up with the promised aid.

“If the state doesn’t approve this, then we’re certainly not going to go ahead with it,” Bischoping promises.

Bischoping reports that New York State will contribute towards 96 percent of the work. Within that 96 percent, the state will fully cover 85 percent of the school district’s costs. The school will end up paying for about one-sixth of the total cost; the state for five-sixths, as bonded over a number of years.

Addressing the question of embarking on a large project in hard economic times, Bischoping suggests a worse case scenario, that even if the economy remains in a downturn at the time the project is bid, that fact in itself can be advantageous: Building contractors will be setting their prices lower to be assured of getting work.

“The time to get the best prices for the work done is when there is a downturn,” Bischoping said.

Bischoping further advises that capital projects for a school district need to follow a different kind of time table than, for example, improvement projects for a private home. The district is looking at work which will mostly be done in 2011-12 and payment not beginning until 2012-13. Furthermore, cost of this project, first seen in the 2012-13 school tax levy, will be about one percent of the total.

Therefore, the school district cannot be as swayed by the current economic circumstance as the private homeowner would and should. From the school board’s perspective, the longer term planning needs of the school have to take precedence over the immediate condition of the economy.