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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Higher annual debt payments? Sure, but that shouldn&#8217;t be the cause of higher taxes. More bus rides at more cost? Yes, but there are ways to offset it. The fate of the GAR Memorial and Mackin buildings? Planned but not set in stone.</p><p>Ahead of an Oct. 29 public hearing (6 p.m. at the Plains/Solomon education complex), Wilkes-Barre Area School District has made available the &#8220;Act 34&#8221; booklet full of details that Superintendent Brian Costello said benefit from context. He and Business Manager Tom Telesz sat down to offer some of that context.</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Nuts and Bolts: </strong> Cost of the new school consolidating grade 9 through 12 from GAR, Coughlin and Meyers high schools is set at a maximum of $137 million. To be built on part of 78 acres in Plains Township, it is projected to initially hold about 2,054 students, but will be able to hold up to 2,457.</p><p><strong>Financing:</strong> The booklet summarizes long-term debt options, including the State Public School Building Authority (unused locally in the decades since the state increased district debt limits), U.S. Department of Agriculture low-interest loans (some money is being sought from that source but is not assured), and floating general obligation bonds, the preferred method for most government long-term debt. The booklet argues such bonds would have lower interest rate than a SPSBA deal.</p><p><strong>New debt: </strong>The proposal is a general obligation bond repaid over 40 years. Total cost (principal and interest) is estimated at $280.5 million, with the state expected to provide $26.8 million for a net total cost to the district of $263.7 million. But Costello stresses it is akin to a mortgage, and few people compare the total cost of a mortgage when comparing home prices. The important number, he said, is &#8220;debt service&#8221; &#8212; the impact on annual debt payments</p><p><strong>Old debt: </strong> On that front, the district starts out with an advantage. It has long had relatively low debt service compared to other districts, currently about $5 million annually. The low debt arguably is the result of decades of deferring or ignoring needed repairs and renovations at the three high schools.</p><p><strong>All debt:</strong> For the new school, the district is using &#8220;wraparound&#8221; financing, paying off a smaller amount of the new debt initially, and increasing those payments as older debt is paid off. The booklet includes charts on estimated annual debt payments through 2059, but the bottom line is that the new school will add about $3.5 million to the existing $5 million debt, boosting annual debt service to about $8.5 million. When the old debt is paid off, that annual payment does not drop; money previously paid toward the old loan will go toward paying the new loan.</p><p><strong>Debt and taxes:</strong> The booklet calculates the bond will, on average, require an annual payment of $6.3 million, equal to about 2.3 mills in school district property taxes. A mill is a $1 tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value. But Costello is quick to stress that doesn&#8217;t mean taxes will go up by 2.3 mills. For starters, there&#8217;s that old debt/new debt wraparound, which will actually increase debt payment by about $3.5 million, not $6.3 million. He and Telesz have also insisted the consolidation is expected to save enough money to offset that cost.</p><p><strong>What savings?</strong>: Costello points to two sources of cost reduction: administration and teacher reductions. On the first, he notes the three existing high schools each have two administrators, and predicts the new school will have &#8220;Four at most,&#8221; for a potential savings of up to $250,000 in salaries and benefits from cutting those two slots.</p><p>On the latter, he was reluctant to give specific staff numbers, but the booklet projects the new school will have 89 teachers for 110 classrooms, though Costello said with labs and other specialized rooms it is closer to 125 rooms. The three high schools now have 189 rooms, and Costello said about about 25 to 30 of those are primarily needed for grades seven and eight at Meyers and GAR. That would mean a rough estimate of 30 or so fewer classrooms. Costello stressed classroom size will be restricted to 24 students, and that teacher cuts will be done through attrition.</p><p><strong>Getting there:</strong> The booklet concedes transportation costs will increase but does not offer specifics. Costello and Telesz said they estimate the new school will require 10 more vehicles at a current cost of about $60,000 per bus, for a total increase of $600,000. But Telesz said the state reimburses typically about a third of such costs.</p><p>Costello wants to negotiate with the contracted bus company to make some vehicles &#8220;hoppers,&#8221; using a bus that typically would be done after specified runs to do some additional runs for pick ups and drop offs scheduled at other times of the day (extra-curricular activities, for example). He also hopes the Luzerne County Transportation Authority will be able to set up a regular bus stop near the school, allowing the district to buy monthly passes for students. At $28 a month, the passes can be used seven days a week to any LCTA stop, giving students greater mobility even outside of school, and Telesz said monthly passes are cheaper than contracting a bus for the same number of students</p><p><strong>Other buildings:</strong> Fates of the GAR and Mackin buildings are sketched in the booklet. Mackin, which currently houses two grades from Coughlin (the oldest part of the school was closed), would become an elementary school for 475 students. GAR would house grades seven and eight from Meyers and GAR, with the option of including grades six from other schools. That option would give the district something it lacks: uniform grade structures. All elementary schools would be K-5, GAR and Plains/Solomon junior high would have 6-8, and the new high school would have 9-12.</p><p>Under that proposal, GAR would eventually get renovations and upgrades estimated at $10 million to $15 million, Telesz said, and that money would have to be borrowed, but that would not happen before 2022.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Pulling back the veil: Mandated booklet reveals more about W-B Area school