The Alamance County manager is recommending that the Alamance-Burlington School System get an increase of 18% in funding for capital projects in the coming fiscal year.
That would amount to $3.9 million, from the $3.3 million that was adopted in the current fiscal year’s budget. The largest part of that would be a $500,000 emergency contingency fund, which County Manager Heidi York said might give the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education a way to deal with unexpected expenses without regularly returning to the commissioners to request money.
The school system’s proposed capital budget was included in York’s presentation Monday night to the Alamance County Board of Commissioners on her recommendations for the capital spending portion of the county’s 2024-25 fiscal budget. The fiscal year begins July 1.
The Alamance-Burlington Board of Education has not yet adopted a proposed 2024-25 budget request.
The $3.9 million would include $1.5 million for school safety updates, $770,000 to address deferred maintenance, $325,000 to replace Cummings High School’s football bleachers, $480,000 for vehicle replacements and $250,000 for playground and classroom replacements.
For other capital projects, York proposed $2.83 million, up from $1.75 million in the current year’s budget. The county would use $1.5 million for detention center roof replacement and HVAC repairs, $350,000 for courthouse repairs and upfits, and $1 million for updating Altamahaw-Ossipee Elementary School’s athletic fields, among other projects.
There are several other county projects that are funded through various other sources, such as installment loans, state grants and solid waste fees. These projects include the replacement of 911 Computer Aided Dispatch for $5.2 million, $5 million for federally-mandated public safety radio replacement, $5 million for the first phase of an Emergency Services Center upfit project and $38,400 for roof replacement on a building at the landfill.
York also has proposed providing Alamance Community College $536,000 for capital projects, the same amount that ACC was allotted in the current year’s budget.
That would include $200,000 for campus renovations and repairs, $100,000 for campus safety upgrades, $10,000 for equipment and vehicle replacement, $26,000 for roof repairs and $200,000 for upgrades to systems that include information technology, fire and HVAC.
The commissioners will hold a work session on the proposed capital improvement plan on Monday, April 22, at 10 a.m.
They will hold a public budget hearing on Monday, June 3, and expect to approve the capital budget on June 17.
