Prairie South School Division expects to spend nearly $17 million on the construction of the joint-use school project this year, including major upgrades to area roads.
Board trustees discussed the new school’s construction during a review of the organization’s first quarter finances — Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, 2023 — at their Jan. 9 meeting.
Division administration is projecting a surplus of $13.4 million by the end of the year (Aug. 31), but that’s slightly deceiving because funding for the new school is included in that amount, said Ron Purdy, finance superintendent.
The budget for this year’s work is $16.4 million, so if that’s removed, then the division is projected to have a deficit of $2.99 million, he continued.
Overall revenues will depend on construction progress on the school and whether they are on, over or under budget, while most road construction costs will come this summer once that aspect of the project begins, Purdy added.
Trustee Crystal Froese inquired about the disbursement of money for the new school and how the division pays those construction bills. She has heard there have been delays in issuing that money to contractors, which could cause trouble for PSSD because it would have to pay while waiting for the province to provide the funding as it’s scheduled to do.
The division has not received any payments for construction so far this school year, even though it has already spent $8.7 million, said Purdy. PSSD is supposed to pay the bills and the province is supposed to reimburse the organization for those expenses.
Purdy commended the liaison with SaskBuilds for attempting to jump-start the payment process because as soon as he receives the invoice, he submits it to ensure the province repays the division.
The Ministry of Finance is supposed to provide payment within two weeks of the first receipt, but the SaskBuilds’ liaison says the first payment is usually delayed about three months, the finance superintendent remarked. While the ministry should have provided that first payment the first week of January, it could be any day now.
Meanwhile, Prairie South must bill Holy Trinity Catholic School Division for its share — $2.7 million — of the project, Purdy added. The public division has been attempting to send out those invoices quickly when it receives them so its partner can promptly pay, which helps reduce any negative effects on PSSD’s cash flow.
Froese pointed out that with construction expected to cost $16 million this year, both divisions need to capture the ministry’s attention because neither PSSD nor Holy Trinity can carry such a heavy financial burden.
Trustee Lew Young suggested that delays in bill payments were not something either division was initially prepared for when this project began, but hoped they didn’t have to worry about it in the future. He pointed out that Prairie South must dip into its reserves to cover these outstanding payments while the province delays in providing the necessary grant funding.
“We look forward to that new school being built. But, on the other hand, I think many people understood that it was SaskBuilds, it was the provincial government (and) it was the (Ministry of Education) that was going to be building that facility, and that’s where the funds would be,” he said.
While that’s true, the divisions must receive the money first; otherwise, they pay the initial bills, Young continued, adding it’s not the divisions’ responsibility to subsidize contractors’ expenses.
New school name
Trustees also learned that an in-house committee is working on a campaign to name the public side of the joint school and will soon seek the community’s input.
The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 6.
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