The Griswold School Board received word during their meeting Monday evening, that bids for their facilities’ improvements came in much higher than expected. The District had budgeted $10-million dollars for those projects. Superintendent Dave Henrichs said they went out for bids December 21^st. He said after the process was completed, they realized they were about $330-thousand dollars OVER budget. The plan then was to pull out some the 14 separate bid packages, and re-bid those that were over budget.The next day, one of the low bidders pulled their bid because they made a mistake. Henrichs wasn’t made aware of that until last Friday afternoon. With that bid having been pulled, the next low bidder was looked at. They were also over budget. At that point, the Distrct was looing at being $660-thousand dollars over budget.)

Plans are still moving forward, with KPE Architects and Estes Construction hold conversations with contractors. Some bid packages were too big, meaning more than the contractors were capable of handling, or, some were too small, with the result being contractors didn’t want to deal with a less substantial project. Therefore he said in some cases, they’re going to split them up, while others will be bundled together. They’ll also look at some specifications, to determine if there are some areas where things can be removed to help bring the cost of the project under bid.)

That being the case, the Griswold School Board rejected seven different bids. The contractors with other bids,specifically those that came in under budget, have agreed to extend bids for 45 days. Bids for the other aspects will be called for, with those bids due in on February 8^th, during which it’s hoped the Board can approve all the bids. Henrichs said also, every year the Griswold District tries to look to the future where the General Fund is concerned. Business Manager Dan Rold, he says, spent a lot of time working on the projections, which include enrollment, staffing, State Aid and other factors, which are always a “Moving target.” The biggest thing the District looks at is their Spending Authority, or the amount of money the District can legally spend, which is not the same as cash. Prior to his coming to Griswold, the projections showed by 2020, the District would have a negative spending authority, which is illegal, and can cause the District to be shut-down.

With the changes made over the past couple of years, Henrichs said they have actually increased their spending authority. Last year, that amounted to an additional $250-thousand dollars, to make the total $1.1-million. “In our projections then moving forward,” according to Henrichs, “ we look like we will be able to continue that trend of increasing the spending authority, up until 2021,” when it will be $1.7-million, and then there will be a little tail-off. Long term, through the 2023 school year, he said “We have no issues what-so-ever. Our projections through the end of 2023 have a spending authority of $1.2-million,” which takes them back to where they were in 2014. He said “So, we’re heading in the right direction.”