The Metro Council will vote on the bonds to pay for the 263-million dollar capital budget tonight, which funds major infrastructure and technology improvements around the city.
Metro Schools has about 65-million dollars in capital requests, one of the largest for the 2008 projects list. Other than technology upgrades, School Board Finance Chair David Fox says renovations are the next highest expenditure this year. Fox says the board audited the physical conditions of the schools several years ago.
“And that has allowed us to prioritize our capital spending projects and so the largest single school project we have for the 2007-2008 year is Maplewood high school.”
Maplewood will be undergoing 11.3-million dollars of renovations.
The operating budget for Metro Schools was cut about 4-million dollars by the Council last month, but Fox says he doesn’t anticipate that happening to the capital plan. Another metro agency that took a small operating hit was the Parks department. Parks Board Vice-Chair Susan Short-Jones says they’ve budgeted 14 million dollars for greenways and playgrounds.
“So really this year we’re focusing on playgrounds at schools and parks and improve fields and really impacting the city as a whole, and trying really to not recommend those things which have major operational expenses to implement.”
8 million for riverfront redevelopment projects which will include spray parks, boardwalks, overlooks, piers, more green spaces and even an adventure playground.
The Metro Council passed the city’s 1.57-billion dollar budget last month.
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