The Fayetteville-Manlius School District Board of Education is moving forward with its plans to improve its facilities and anticipates doing so in two ways: through a capital project referendum that taxpayers will decide upon in a public vote and an energy performance contract, which the board would authorize.

“We’re continuing to make progress in determining which projects need to be addressed based on the recommendations of engineers and architects familiar with our facilities as well as the feedback of our students, staff, parents and community members,” Superintendent Craig J. Tice said. “Given the magnitude of need across the district, we are being strategic in planning how and when each project would be tackled.”

On June 12, the board authorized Tice to work with architects, construction managers and others as deemed necessary on a referendum targeting capital projects at Wellwood Middle School, Fayetteville-Manlius High School and Enders Road Elementary School, the buildings with the most critical needs, according to a 2015 building condition survey report.

The earliest a proposal could go before voters is November, but the board will have to vote on a final project proposal first. At this point, district officials are still refining that proposal. In the meantime, they are exploring the opportunity that an energy performance contract (EPC) would offer to complete some critical infrastructure work before a capital project public vote.

Energy performance contracting is a financing technique that uses cost savings from reduced energy consumption to repay the cost of installing energy conservation measures, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This allows building users to achieve energy savings without up-front capital expenses because the energy improvement costs are borne by the contractor and paid back out of the energy savings, according to HUD.

Identified projects would each be eligible for grants and state building aid, which would pay a significant percentage of the costs. Based on an energy audit analysis, Siemens Building Technologies has identified approximately $3.1 million in facility upgrades that could be paid for by an annual energy cost savings of $151,000 over an 18-year term and represents an annual energy reduction of 12 percent of the district’s current utility costs.

On June 12, Siemens identified and presented to the F-M board possible EPC projects that include boiler room improvements and lighting upgrades.

F-M has entered into three previous energy performance contracts resulting in an energy cost avoidance of $3,151,969 for Phase I, which was from July 1997-June 2007, and a guaranteed energy cost avoidance of $4,326,046 for Phase II and III, which end in 2026 and 2030, respectively.

The EPC projects would be coordinated with any capital project work the district proposes.

The capital project’s possible impact on taxpayers will depend on several factors, including the amount of capital reserves the district can use to offset the local share of the project cost and how the project is proposed to voters (one larger vote versus multiple smaller votes).

To review the facility project planning process to date and weigh in, visit the F-M Let’s Talk! web page at fmschools.org/let’stalk.