Libby schools to seek $4 million levy

Libby Public Schools will be seeking approval from Lincoln County taxpayers to assess a $4 million building reserve levy during May’s school trustee election. The money, said superintendent Craig Barringer, will be reserved exclusively for building repair and maintenance costs.

Barringer said the condition of the school district’s facilities is not yet at the crisis stage, but serious investment in the school’s infrastructure is necessary in order to keep the buildings functional and in use for the long term.

“We’re not at the crisis stage yet, but we will be soon, especially in the area of roofs and parking lots,” Barringer said. “If we’re going to use our buildings for 20 more years, we have to take care of them now,” Barringer said.

A 2010 district facility evaluation was conducted by CTA Architects, in which each of the district’s facilities was rated on the Facility Condition Index, or FCI. The FCI is a calculated ratio of repair cost to replacement cost. Facilities with an FCI rating of more than .25 are considered to be in poor condition. 

Each of Libby district’s six facilities was rated at .25 FCI or more. Libby Elementary scored .25, Plummer rated .3, Libby Middle/High School came in at .32. The Central School and McGrade had ratings of .33 and .34 respectively, with Asa Wood receiving a rating of .56, which places it in the category for immediate replacement.

Barringer said the district put together a facilities committee to assess the district’s facilities needs. The committee has been meeting since August 2015, and created a status worksheet detailing the various needs of the schools. The estimate to repair everything on the facilities committee’s wish list totals $4.347 million. 

The largest expenses are the roofs for the elementary school and the middle/high school, which total more than $1.5 million. The roof for the Central School will cost another $102,400.

The floors in both the elementary and middle/high schools were also noted as specific problem areas in the committee’s report. The middle/high school gym floor has several dead spots and is unlikely to survive another sanding. The elementary school gym floor is warped to the point that it cannot be repaired again, it needs replaced, Barringer said. The tile in both the middle/high school and the elementary school is wearing to the point the original patterns cannot even be discerned and has been patched with non-matching tile in several spots.

The sidewalks and parking lots are also in need of repair and replacement, Barringer said. Replacing the sidewalks at the elementary and middle/high school is estimated to cost slightly more than $100,000, with another $172,000 needed to resurface the school parking lots.

The five-year levy, at the full $4.1 million, will cost taxpayers $89.30 per year on a home with a taxable value of $100,000. The election will be held the first week in May in conjunction with the district trustee election.