Cost increases for the new stadium at Oak Harbor High School have some people concerned about how the school district will complete the project.

Concerns include how transparent the school district is in communicating financial decisions surrounding the upcoming construction.

“I don’t want things to damage this fragile commodity that is the school district’s credibility,” said Peter Szalai, president of the Oak Harbor Education Association, which represents the teachers in the school district.

He said at Monday night’s school board meeting that it’s not clear how the school district will resolve funding issues. He wanted to know what the impact is on the budget and what are the implications for the programs and staff.

Several weeks ago, school officials said early information shows the cost of the stadium increased from the $6.5 million approved by voters, plus $500,000 from the Rotary Club, to a new total of $7.65 million. To deal with the increase, the cost of upgrading the athletic fields which was originally part of the stadium bond package was moved to the high school renovation project. Architects also are looking at making $100,000 worth of cuts to the stadium facility and school officials are looking at other funding sources within the capital projects budget to make up the difference.

Schools Superintendent Rick Schulte said there is enough money in the district’s capital projects fund to complete all scheduled projects.

While it looks like the practice fields will be completed, it won’t be done as originally advertised.

When the school district advertised the $6.5 million stadium bond, it said the money would pay for upgrades to the fields. The recent price increase changed those plans.

“It’s not going to happen that way, but the work will be done,” Schulte said. He added the athletic fields and high school renovation project are so closely integrated they can’t be separated.

The $1.5 million budgeted for the field upgrades is an estimate and the scope of the upgrades depends on impacts from the renovation project. Part of the fields will be destroyed when work crews use the area as a staging area for materials.

Schulte said, if the renovation project didn’t happen, then the field upgrades would be cheaper.

Recent estimates place the stadium project at $7.65 million, the maximum amount set by the school board. In addition to the bond, which voters approved last November, the school district will also receive $500,000 from the Rotary, which spear-headed a community fund-raising drive last year. The district also expects $240,000 in interest earnings from the bond.

Schulte said the school district has other sources within the capital budget which it could tapped. The school board approved the district’s 2006-2007 budget Monday night.

He said there is a $650,000 balance in the capital budget, and the school district also diverts some Supplemental Impact Aid money to capital projects.

School officials don’t yet know how much money will be received in interest income from the high school bonds, but Schulte estimated it could be over $5 million.

Schulte added that the $73.33 million high school renovation, approved by voters in a separate election, also has a larger contingency written into it than the stadium bond in case a similar escalation happens. There is approximately $21 million in the budget to account for construction inflation. Whether the contingency is enough won’t be known until a bid is awarded on the project, which is less than 18 months away.

While Schulte said the priority is to complete the publicly-funded projects, some people want to see the interest money to go elsewhere.

Oak Harbor resident Scott Hornung said the school district should let the public know how the interest will be used and give them a chance to comment on that.

“They need to be open with the public and I don’t see that,” Hornung said.

He would like to see the earnings go to moving the maintenance and bus facility from Midway Boulevard to Goldie Road.

Szalai too would like to see improvements at the run-down maintenance facility. When he was a member of the volunteer capital facilities committee, improving the compound was named as a need.

“Nothing has been done for those poor people who work at that compound,” Szalai said.

Once the high school projects are complete, the maintenance facility will be the last district building not to receive a facelift in recent years. Most notably the parapet on top of the building could fall down.

Schulte said there was never a timeline established concerning upgrading the maintenance building.

“There were a lot of needs identified but they weren’t prioritized,” Schulte said. He added the improvements need to be done in the next five to 10 years.

The school district will conduct a survey next year to identify unmet capital needs within the school district. The survey is needed to attract additional funding from the state.

In the meantime, officials are moving forward with the two major projects at the high school.

The new stadium, complete with an artificial surface and covered bleachers, is to be ready in time for the 2007-2008 school year.

As for the high school renovation, Schulte just received a draft of the educational specifications. That draft is being distributed to groups for comment, a period which will last until the end of September.