001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Okay, good evening everyone and welcome. It's time to call this budget workshop to order. And uh today being May 14th, 2026. And Mr. Secretary, would you call roll for us? Yes, sir. Mrs. Chavez Not here. Mr. Almaraz Not here. Mr. Oberfelt I'm here. Mr. Mesa Here. Mrs. Webb Present. Ms. Haynes Not here. Sir, I'm also present. You do have a quorum. Thank you very much. Let the record show that we do have a quorum of board members and that this meeting has been duly called in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. We'll have opening ceremonies, first with a moment of silence for personal reflection, followed by the pledge of allegiance. Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
002to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >> [cough] [clears throat] >> Okay, we go into the first item we have on our agenda is item three, budget workshop, health insurance information. We'll hit Amy Chovers to present. Good evening President Mesa, Dr. Rios, and members of the board. This evening I'm going to give you just kind of a summary of where we are in our renewal process for our health insurance benefits. So, this is a a diagram of our renewal timeline. So, currently we have already met the first three items. The first is the kickoff, which is where our insurance consultants Brown & Brown we kind of speak with them and they kind of finalize for 2026 what our needs are for them
003to go out for market. Then in the pre-renewal process it would occurs about 10 months before our renewal time is where they start defining our strategy and they gather and prepare the claims data for them to put their request for proposal together. Then about 8 months before our renewal timeline is when they actually put out and post the medical RFP, which they have already done. And we are currently on this timeline we are currently here on the area that says review and decisions. So, they have put out the RFP. They have started getting replies back from carriers. I can tell you at as of yesterday when I spoke with Lexi that we have heard back from Aetna and Cigna. They have declined >> [clears throat] >> to give us a quote. So, we are currently
004waiting to hear from Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Health Care and we should have something by the end of next week so that I can provide an update at our next budget meeting on the 26th as far as our current year's RFP proposal. This next slide The next two slides is just going to kind of give a recap of our current performance since we have moved over to Blue Cross Blue Shield. So, in 2025, uh the district's contribution per employee for 2025 was $474.49. [clears throat] Um on plan performance, as you could see uh here in in the column um medical and pharmacy premiums. So, these were the premiums. This is the contributions that the district made, as well as employees made for the um employee packages or family packages that they might have.
005It was a total of the plan of 8,595,329. Then, for the plan, if you look over here in the total paid claims column, the total claims that were actually paid through the plan were 8,660,543. So, it was a deficit for the plan of about $65,000 versus the premiums that were paid compared to the claims that were paid out for 2025. The next slide is our uh current plan for 2026, and this is This data is as of April. So, currently for the 2026 year, the district our current um contribution uh when it was a 9 and 1/2% increase from the prior year, our current contribution is $519.57 per employee. So far for 2026, the premiums that have been paid are 3,103,772. And the claims that have been paid on the plan so far are $3,267,315,
006which is a plan deficit at this time of a little over $163,000. So, in considering what we were possibly the type of it, we are expecting an increase in our contribution for the budget planning year. If I plan another 10%, just to give you an idea, um we have an average about of about 1,235 employees that seem to be operating on the program. A 10% increase from our current contribution of $519.57 would increase to about $571.52 per month for the district contribution to the employee. That would have an effect on our budget of about $385,000. So, you can kind of see um again, we're expecting at least a minimum of 10%, I would say. I won't have any final figures until the end of next week, but that's kind of where we're headed at this
007time. Can we ask questions at this time? Yes, sir. Um >> [clears throat] >> so, on the family plan, would that increase also where anticipating an increase? Yes, sir. If the the the base premium would increase that each of the plans that would go up, I I would assume, yes. I don't know that it will be definitely a 10% for each of the plans that we have. And then also [clears throat] depending on which carrier we receive what alternate plans they have, but yes, I would it would be an increase for each of the plan premiums. Dr. Rios, did you want to mention something? Yes, I don't want to alarm anyone, but if we look at at the at the year-to-date claims, I absolutely believe that a 10% increase would be a win for the
008school district, if that's all they charge us. 10% more. If If we only had to contribute 335 uh thousand dollars more per year, that would be I would be ecstatic. But based on our claims, again, the summer months is when our employees wait for surgeries because they don't want to miss teaching. The the red bar for the month of June and July and August, because the claims come in later, is going to be significantly higher. Um I just want to caution as we make plans to move forward, and this isn't cost that we can control. This is what the provider is going to charge us. We already had two providers denied a quote, and if they denied to give us a quote, it's because it's not a favorable market for them. Um That That's just
009a cost that that either A, we have to prepare for and figure out where else we cut in our budget, or B, um some of the costs have to be passed on to the employees. Now, the district has, at least in my history of the district, we've never passed on insurance costs to the employees. We've cut wherever we had to, and that's been the directive of the board for at least the last 14 years. But the insurance carrier is going to charge us well above a 10% increase. I hope a different vendor comes in and quotes other than Blue Cross Blue Shield so that there could be some competition. Um but it's very difficult. Um >> [clears throat] >> So I know that as a former employee every time we got a raise, you know,
010it went for insurance. So that that has been the trend pretty much every year insurance goes up. The only thing I'm leaving [clears throat] the board, but I think two things to consider is I [clears throat] don't know I believe it the percentage of school dist- school districts that provide 100% insurance are few. If I remember correctly, it's somewhere around maybe 45%, 35%. Do you know, Dr. Rios? I I I don't recall, Mr. Mesa, but I want to say that it was somewhere between 10 and 20% that provide [clears throat] e- even 100% total >> provide 100%. E- even here in Del Rio um other municipalities, businesses, works, they don't provide 100% for employees. They charge something uh that that does make a difference. Right. It It's a great French benefit that we have, but
011at at some point this board is going to have to consider maybe two things. One a contribution by the employee or you know, we have the optional homestead exemption which the state has come in and lowered the or increased the homestead exemption from 100,000 to 140,000. Um so some things to think about, you know, not today, but at some point um it it does take a big chunk of money to be able to pay for all of the insurance and I know it's a great thing to have. But um this happens everywhere because even with TASB, you know, they provide insurance for us. It's I I belong to the employee benefits and so I I'm aware of uh all the costs going up year by year. So, >> [clears throat] >> just some thought to
012think about for the coming years. Thank you, Doris. Did uh Brown & Brown indicate why the other uh vendors refused to provide a quote? She did not. I can ask, but but I pretty much like you stated, I believe looking at our claim history, it was just not going to be beneficial for them. But I can get I just know that over the past uh Mr. Mesa, board members, over the past 13 years, it's the months of June, July, and August where most employees choose to have their surgeries and you know, God bless them for for waiting for the summer months when they're not going to miss teaching, but that's really when when our bigger claims come in. So, Anyone else? No. Doris. No, I mean it's >> [clears throat] >> Like you said, we're
013waiting on the the info to come back and it is um you know, there's certain things that are not that are certain in life. You know, it's always been death and taxes and rises in insurance is the other one. Uh there but as Mr. Mesa said, yeah, it's a um We have been fortunate to go in and be able to provide that what we call the free option or the 100% option to the employee. And that's that's been a a plus. I have sisters that work for the San Antonio districts over there and they pay and they pay into to theirs. We are lucky in those regards and it like you said it is not a it will it it's going to go up. Insurance never goes down. And there I just got the renewal
014notice on my home insurance though. And that's going up too. So but yes, it's something that the we're cognizant of and we'll we'll do everything within our power to make it um palpable to to the employees and there to just again still try and offer that as as long as financially able to go in and and do. This so correct. Just want to mention something else in in regard to um insurance and and that's um we try not to inconvenience the employees by changing the carriers and so I hope we continue with Blue Cross because I think all of us know the the ones [clears throat] that have been here for years is every time we change is so inconvenient for them to be able to change to another provider and then sometimes they don't
015sign up with that insurance and we just want to want to make it as as calm and peaceful as we can for the employees even though there's a increase every year you you know, it just so happens that we think of a raise and part of it goes for the cost of insurance and that's the way it's been for years. That being said, let you continue. There's there's a question from somebody else? We're good. That's all that I have. So thank you and I'll update you as soon as I know any additional information. Thank you. Going to our next item and next item is item B and operations. Mr. Chapa. Good evening board president Ms. Aguilar, Dr. Cruz, members [clears throat] of the board. Before I start on the presentation, there was some updates, recent
016updates this afternoon. And I know you have a printout that's been updated on the diet. We'll start with the sustainability, the HVAC portion of it. I'm sorry, just before you begin to remind the board The amount that Mr. Chapa is going to share with you at the end to cover everything, just a reminder that in the past we have funded some of these needs either through just operation money and some particularly when it comes to the AC units through fund balance. So it's it's not The amount is big, but just so we don't have to fund everything and then not all of it has to come out of operations. Some of it can come out of fund balance. So the current year we were allotted $335,000. Up to the present time, we spent a little
017bit about $270,000. A difference of $65,000 that's still in in balance or in the budget available if the need arises. Unfortunately, the needs didn't play out as we needed. As an example, we had earmarked $50,000 for high school. We spend close to $120,000 there. So other campuses we remove or move money's rather from the other campuses to supplement the particular needs at the time. But, overall as I mentioned, 270,000 out of the 335,000 dollars have been spent. Uh going forward to the uh the next year, we're looking at requesting at 580,000 dollars for again the high school. Now, we're going to be including the middle school, 100,000 dollars. And Terrell, 30,000. Garfield still remains uh >> [clears throat] >> as campus that's basically a little bit over 20 years old or approximately 20 years old,
018which has exceeded the life expectancy a lot of the units. And one unit alone, it's approximately dollars. And Lamar Elementary also, about 100,000 dollars. So, for this coming year, we're requesting 580,000 dollars. I do like to remind the board that a lot of these numbers come from a report that Schneider Electric did for us about a year or 2 years ago that provided us the life expectancy of the equipment, the existing equipment, and made recommendations as a timeline when to change. Moving forward to the next tab, >> [snorts] >> fire alarms. This is a new request. We're requesting approximately 130,000 dollars for the campuses listed in the presentation, which is the high school, uh freshman, middle school, Cardwell, Lamar, and Lanie Green. Uh this school year we experienced a an issue at Tawney Elementary uh
019that was detrimental to the fire alarm itself. The panel was malfunctioning. We had to implement a fire watch for several days and uh Century Security went in and replaced the panel. But it took them several days to do it. And of course it affected campus operations because of the fire watch. So we're trying to be proactive and start looking at having funds for those possible emergencies. And uh we're looking at approximately 100,000 and for the following year and another 100,000 and 80,000 and so forth spread out over several years to address possible issues. One campus that we're not looking at hopefully having issues is Calderona Elementary because a couple of years ago uh the district invested a over $200,000 for a whole new system there that was antiquated and it was replaced. So this is
020just in case there's an emergency that pop up we'll have the funds available for those. Questions from board members? My only question sir is how do we stand with the fire alarms right now? I know you're looking into the future Mhm. but where are we right now? The there's As well the the fire alarms all work Okay. just fine. But what we found out was that sensors throughout the building uh had given away and uh and they have to be replaced. Uh and we have to replace with so many years as so often because they're going to give out. They they don't they don't go on forever. And uh in a lot of these campuses that he's mentioned, we know that we have to replace sensors throughout to keep a safe building. But that's the
021plan for replacing sensors and and just preventive maintenance equipment there. It could turn out that instead of them being at Cardwell, it it may be the ones at Chavira that give out and and we have to replace those. Now none of them give out and we're just providing replacements so that they don't give out. That's the order that we would take. But we do know that sensors is a big issue and and in working with Century, we said we're going to come up with a plan to be able to maintain it so that we don't get to a point where we can't detect other errors and and then we end up with a $200,000 bill instead of spending enough money in preventive maintenance year to year. Well, I think it's a good idea that we
022keep track of where we are and which ones we need to replace and and keep an eye on it. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Chapa, um thank you, Mr. Wood. Um another question cuz I don't know where it's going to fall here, but um sustainability in regard to the elevator at the middle school. Well, is is that somewhere in the categories here? It's not in the categories. It's part of the operational funds of the the department. Uh we do have a maintenance plan with a a current vendor and they are supposed to come in and quarterly do inspections and maintenance on the elevators. Unfortunately, right now the elevator, from my understanding, is that emergency key that opens the the doors. It it's basically not working correctly. It just spins and that needs to be replaced.
023And our maintenance coordinator is working on getting the contractor or the vendor to come in and do those replacements. So, Dr. Rios, I know that we've had uh two incidents where students get stuck there. And and so, um what is there any replacement or anything that I know you you're talking about the box that the the key's not functioning. We we have uh two elevators at Del Rio Middle School. We have one that's closest to the gyms and the one that's right at the main entrance. And the first incident involved a custodian that uh was stuck in the elevator. And then a couple days later, the second elevator, we had other uh I believe it was a student. Um Mr. uh Setaro reached out uh to a company and they came in and they as
024part of the the preventive and corrective maintenance agreement, they did fix them. Now, unfortunately, the one they fixed, or actually they fixed both of them, but one of them had another issue another incident just recently. Uh they've been contacted and they come back, but we have money within the budget for that routine maintenance on them. We just have to uh insist that they come back and they respond quicker. The fixing of the cylinder, that's what I was causing the elevator to get stuck. That's what's preventing us from opening the elevator once it gets stuck. They have to come in and reassess it and then they'll tell us what larger replacements have to happen uh so that they don't continue to break down. That's what we don't have an idea of. Now, when they come back,
025if it's outside of our budget, then we would have to ask for additional funds. Uh but in the past, they have fixed uh big components and they have been within our budget. So, we'll know more and uh where's where's Paul? Sir, um did they give you an idea when they would come? Yes, they're they're going to put us on priority number one, hopefully tomorrow or the day after. We'll have a better idea and and when we come back to do the second presentation, if there's something big, we we'll definitely include it. So, are they out of San Antonio? They're out of San Antonio. Then, okay. Okay, just so we can address that because [clears throat] I know it lately we've had two incidents. Okay. Moving on to fencing. Um I know in the previous year
026we did San Felipe Memorial Middle School and a portion of the funds that were earmarked for San Felipe Memorial Middle School were used here at Garfield to do the front and sides. So, what we're looking for this coming year is approximately $450,000 that were would be earmarked for Blended Academy as well as Buena Vista Elementary. Same ornamental fences to match the rest of the district. Mr. Valindo. Mr. Chapa, just a quick question. How do we come to the consensus for Early College High School to be till 2029 or 30, but there's no there's no fencing at all? So, that's why, you know, thinking of that as a concern, how does that get moved three years back and maybe not earlier? Well, it's it's a living document. We're just placing funds, you know, for for future
027use. Obviously, that can be moved up to a more recent day years, also. Okay. Yeah, we can go on. Okay. Um going on to athletics. Uh, we're requesting $90,000 for just upkeep or maintenance, routine maintenance for the sanding of the floors and re- painting both gyms at the high school as well as the middle school gym. >> [clears throat] >> Question campus furniture >> Question from Mr. Overfelt. So, in the original Mr. Chapa that we had got, we had the gym being or the gym floor being completely redone or replaced at San Felipe Memorial, but now it's missing from from the the updated one that we're giving. Um, I think that gym floor is about as it's older than I am cuz I think it's the same gym floor when I was a sixth grader
028there. Um, and that was part of the conversation when we were talking bond that regardless of what happened with the bond that floor was going to be replaced this summer because it's got it's got [clears throat] pieces missing and and and stuff like that, so um, we're we're if that amount of money on the original one, the 180 um, where was that being reallocated to if it wasn't if we were not going to use it there not suggesting we're going to use it there? Mr. Overfelt, um, that's why we had to make corrections. The board has already approved uh, the repair of those floors and and beginning on June 1, the entire floor at San Felipe Memorial Middle School will be uh, replaced, not just painting or sanding, entirely removed and replaced. If you will
029recall, we had TASB come in and do an asbestos study. They cleared us there's no asbestos. Uh, therefore we can proceed with replacing the gym floor and they've contracted, they're scheduled, they're going to be here June 1st. We've also um asked or will be asking the board on Monday to replace the basketball goals because they they're also there probably since the beginning of of when the gym was established. Uh and um Mr. Smith, Tyler Smith is working with Dynamic Pro to replace the electrical wiring so that there's enough power to to bring the the the rims, the hoops up and down and to the side. Uh so there is we are going to finish the entire makeover of the gym with the exception of paint, but our people can do that if time permits. Do
030we have a working scoreboard in there or is that one or is that scoreboard pretty old, too? I don't I can't recall. >> It's old, but it works. >> It works. Okay. Hm, I wonder if there's a bank that would like to sponsor a or a business that would like to sponsor a scoreboard. Possibly. Okay, cool. Thank you. Uh campus uh furniture uh we didn't uh uh spend any money on campus furniture so we're just sliding it over uh for an additional year for next year. It wasn't it wasn't allocated. It's not that we didn't spend it. I'm sorry. Sorry about that. It wasn't allocated. Okay, good. Asphalt, uh we're not requesting any pavement for this upcoming year. Interior painting we're requesting $210,000. Exterior painting, we're requesting $115,000. And it I have It's for um
031Garfield and Lamar Elementary's, the interior painting. I'm I'm sorry, the Yes, the interior painting and the exterior painting would be Buena Vista and Lamar Elementary. Under our technology refresh, Mr. Salinas requested half a mil for classroom teacher workstations. The 15,000 for MDF IDF HVAC replacements, we've been uh replacing with uh mini split systems where the need arises. And uh the $60,000 is the the required amount for the E-rate uh funding that we participate in. Um This year, this the current year, the board was generous enough to to provide funding for a vehicle replacement for maintenance, uh police department, and I believe uh the warehouse. Uh We're requesting uh another [clears throat] 150,000 to replace some vehicles with the main for the maintenance. One is would be uh bucket truck that would allow our maintenance department
032to do include our electrical department to do light bulb replacement on street lights or parking lot lights and reach overhead as we need to. Uh the current vehicle is from uh 1992 and it's has 180,000 miles and it's basically parked because there's hydraulic system issues with the bucket and motor issues with the the actual motor. So, and the there's two half-ton pickups they would like to replace. One is a 1997 with 166,000 mi and the other one is a 1998 with 180,000 mi. Both are seeing better days. Technology's also requesting $50,000 for vehicle. Mr. Mesa, may I ask a question on this? Mr. Galindo. What about the mail delivery vehicles? They're pretty rough shape like the van and I know they're using the older car. Would we be able to get an idea of what
033it would cost to get a vehicle for that? Dr. Ruiz. Mr. Mesa. Um remember was Sandra here? No. Um member services Amy would would know. Amy, help me refresh my memory. Did we not provide a vehicle for the mail delivery room this past budget season? Okay. And and really the other one they have is beaten up, but um so it is a possibility we just have to rotate the allocation of money. >> just a thought in the mind whether in the future cuz I mean I've seen the two vehicles and those are the ones that I usually I see as well and they're rough. Thank you, Mr. Galindo. Um >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Chapa, can you elaborate on technology? What kind of vehicle are we looking for? Or do you know, Dr. Ruiz? I'm
034not sure. Mr. Salinas says that our graduation the Okay. Uh they they don't have a specific vehicle in mind, Mr. Mesa. Uh they just need uh two additional vehicles. So, the 50,000 that you're looking there would buy two vehicles. They always buy used vehicles. They find vehicles that have been rentals and then they do have the two two tend to have a lot of miles on them, but because they're rentals and they're they're well kept. The interior is well kept. But, they would buy two vehicles at 25,000 a piece, two trucks. So, they wouldn't need bucket vehicles or anything like that. No. Okay. Mr. Salazar has also requested some funding to be split with the next year and the previous and the following year of 75,000 dollars a piece per year for communication equipment. That
035equipment would be basically radios and let's see. For the police department, campus administrators, and the transportation depart department, walkie-talkies, two-way communication like that. Is and also I believe it might be for some antennas to be placed around the district for those walkie-talkies. or radios. >> Wait, Peterson. These are more of the analog ones, right? That's what I'm gathering. They would be the analog ones. I'm not sure if they're analog or digital. >> They would be the other ones. The digital are by far too expensive. So, Mr. Torres, this wouldn't come out of the safety allotment? No, sir. Our safety allotment uh it's pretty much committed. I think the little bit amount of money that we have, Amy, we said we were going to dedicate it to the fences and we're using some to replace a
036fence at at the high school this summer. But, there is no more safety allotment from the grant money that that we got. It's all committed. Moving forward, the safety money that the state does provide is within the budget and that's what we're using to fund the police officer at every campus, the security guards that that source of. Moving forward, most of our security purchases will come from grants that we apply for. For example, uh Chief Vaz, I believe he's out in front. Um him and our federal programs budget person applied for a grant, uh Can you remind me the amount, Amy? I I don't want to exaggerate it. 132,000. I think it was about 100 Mr. Edward, would Yes, sir. Uh to buy equipment for our police officers. And in And in that grant, we
037were rated number one and we're expected to get body worn cameras for all our police officers. Moving forward, we just have to keep applying for grants, every grant that's available. We don't get every grant, but but if we apply for every grant, we get you know, one in four one in five grants and we're able to improve what we provide. I I realize the amounts are small, so therefore, I mean, I can see the walkie-talkies, you know, when they go out of town, whatever. I you know, they're not the the really service equipment that they use for administration and to make sure that communication is, you know, for all law enforcement and administrative personnel on campuses. Yeah. What The uh Mr. Webb. Yes, the radios are going to be in addition to or to replace
038some of what we already have? I believe it's to replace. It's a replacement, ma'am. Just a replacement. Yes. So, have we thought about additional radios? Especially like when our buses are out on UIL competitions or or what have you that they have that extra communication? I don't know. Uh we we'll we'll definitely uh uh have Mr. Salinas update us and and uh see if there's anything that is missing uh for us to have a complete communication system. Thank you. Okay. And that includes the sustainability presentation. Can you go to the summary page, Mr. Mesa? The the uh So, that's 2.7. Am I seeing it correctly? Yes. >> 2.7 million dollars. Again, not everything's going to be possible, but when we find out exactly how much our insurance is going to be and what type of
039raise the board wants to give, um we can start the selection process. Okay, so all this will be in the interactive workbook. Yes. Okay. Question from Mr. Follow up. >> [clears throat] >> And you already mentioned I just want to clarify for myself um the safety and security allotment what we have left will be used this summer. So, the proposed for the the fencing is what we're going to have to budget. There won't be any left over for for that, right? That's what you were saying. Correct. >> Okay. Um and then the I just want to make sure that cuz I know it it falls between us and SFE. The there's nothing listed for food service equipment. Um anything like that. I just want to make sure that they're they're not requesting anything out of
040there or we're I want to make sure everything we've got in the different campuses is is good and we don't have to do a a minute adjustment later. Two things Mr. Ruffo. One, uh >> [clears throat] >> I'm going to say 90% uh to 95% of all the food service equipment, Mr. Paul's agreeing with me, has all been replaced. All of it, the second part is all of it gets replaced through uh the program's money. Uh and right now, Ms. Haynes, I think we have uh enough in uh surplus in the food service money, which can only be spent in food service, to continue to replace every equipment. So, that is that is one department that is fully covered. Cool. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. That's it. Thank you so much. >> I'm going
041to go down and make a presentation. >> Okay. Mr. Vice President members of the board, uh the the reason we're bringing proposed construction is because during the school year, we talked about the possibility of uh maintenance tax notes to build uh some of the infrastructure that we cannot build through our regular budget. It's important that it be part of the budget process because if the board chooses to go in that direction, it will become part of our operating budget because the payment for these tax notes will not come from the interest and sinking fund, from the I&S tax rate. It'll have to come from our operating budget. That's why we're discussing it and that'll be one of the items that you get to check off yes or no on the interactive workbook. Okay. Currently, in
042our maintenance and operation in excess fund balance, we have approximately $8 million. We have $31 million, but $23 million is required to have for 75 operating fund balance. That leaves $8 million. Another option to add to the $8 million is to borrow in maintenance tax notes. We can borrow uh $5 million, $7 million, and $10 million. And these are just options. Obviously, the board could borrow any amount in between, but for budgeting purposes, these are the amounts that that that we have data on. This data was provided by uh Mr. David Gonzalez, your financial advisor. Uh if we were to borrow $5 million, we would have an annual note of 370,000, for $7 million, 518,000, and for $10 million, $740,000 annual payment on it. So, then our options if we couple the 8 million in
043fund balance with the amount that we can borrow, you would have 13 million, 15 million, or 18 million dollars to allocate for uh projects that otherwise could not be completed. And in reviewing the district's needs, these are some of the projects that the board would choose could choose to do. Whatever projects the board doesn't choose to do, if you choose to do any of these, they could go possibly into the next bonds election. Okay. The first one is uh a road connecting Wildcat Drive to Main Street. The importance of this road is about threefold. First, the traffic congestion on Memorial Drive is excessive. There's just a whole lot of traffic congestion there. Uh second, we need a second egress route for the high school. If we had to vacate it, it would be very difficult
044to vacate because it's only Memorial Drive and the side roads is just difficult. There's no proximity. So, building this road in the back, let me see if it can show on the I don't think you can see on the mouse, but um from from Wildcat to Memorial, it definitely provides another evacuation system. So, first, the congestion on Main Street, the second evacuation, and then third is that if we were to develop the fields in the back to use uh for our athletic fields, you know, we definitely need the storm drainage system. When it rains, the girls softball field becomes completely flooded, and then Coach McCrae takes money out of his budget every year to have the field redone again. Therefore, it's inconceivable to build any fields back there without the storm drainage because it would
045be a bad investment. This road will cost $4.2 million and we're talking about additional parking, the road connecting, the flood drainage system, the drop-off and and pick-up area for the students. That's at route about the center of the picture there. So, that is an expensive take, but it is one that we're eventually going to have to do. Okay. The next project uh it really would have to be a project prior to that would be create another water loop. You can't lay asphalt uh and then later try to come in and do a water loop. Right now, that bright green bright green on the left-hand side is the only place that we get water uh for the entire school. Uh should there be an emergency, we would not have water if something was to happen to
046that line. So, having an alternate water loop would be important. But again, we would have to do the water loop before we did a road and that's $800,000. The Buena Vista cafeteria expansion, Buena Vista continues to have the smallest kitchen uh and a and I I'm pretty certain it's the smallest dining room uh in the whole district and it's as old as the school is. Uh there were minor repairs done to the cafeteria uh years ago, but that cafeteria needs to be uh replaced. And replacing that cafeteria, we uh expect it to be approximately $2 million. Okay. That's just the cafeteria and the expansion of the dining room. Okay. Bobby Barrera Elementary continues to be a project that we applied for grants. Currently, uh we're applying for another grant from the federal government, but we
047have not been successful and we've applied three times. This will be the fourth the fourth time that we apply. Okay. That one is $7 million. A uh Del Rio High School baseball field, all turf baseball field. Uh Coach McCrea is not here. Um so, I don't want to quote him, but the amount of money that we spend in maintaining the field at Roseville Park is significant. Uh In the past, when we at Del Rio High School and at Del Rio Middle School, when we went to to turf, the maintenance not only was the maintenance never an issue, but so were ants and mud and all that stuff. So, it's definitely a a good investment besides having one in the proximity of the school. So, to to build a baseball field, which would be built right
048behind the stadium where the new road would go, um all in, bleachers, uh turf, fencing, lighting, $3 million. The girl's softball field, uh it doesn't have It's It's a good field except when it floods. Uh It has lights already. It It's graded. It's smaller. It would only cost about $1.5 million. Uh to do that. Again, we can't invest any more money in it until we fix a road in in the drainage system there. In summary, if we were to do the water loop, the road, uh cafeteria expansion, the brick and mortar at RBV, and baseball and softball field, we're talking about $18 million 550,000. Obviously, there's not enough money in in in fund balance and based on how much we have to pay for increased costs such as insurance or increased races, there might not
049even be any money to to to pay for a loan. Therefore, the only money we would have would be $8 million. And then we would really have to pick and choose which of these projects, if any, the board wanted to do. Okay? But these are projects that we've outlined uh that we could possibly manage ourselves uh without having to go out with a big management company. Um But again, the board will have to decide if if uh there is uh an opportunity or create an opportunity for to do any of these. Are there any questions on any of these projects and the funding mechanisms for them? Questions? No? No. No. >> [clears throat] >> No, I I wouldn't say it's a question. I think I mean, you've stated it. Once we see what insurance and
050raise, I think those are the top two priorities and then and this would be the would be later or would be further down the the list. I'm pretty sure the seven would would agree to that being the insur- insurance and the the pay raises. Sure. And then I I I don't want to I don't want to create a panic system because we don't know what uh finances the state is going to provide. Uh we also have to contend with increased energy costs. And uh Ms. Childress and uh um Mr. Sanchez will provide uh a budget or or not a budget, a prediction of of how much that will cost. But we can also expect for the energy costs, whether it be electricity or fuel, it's also take a significant increase this year. I only mention
051that because if there's no additional money from the state, then it always comes down to what we cut or what we do less of. Uh and it in the past, the board has chosen to use some of the fund balance, but we've also gotten to a situation in the past 13 years where because of of increased costs and limited funding from the state, our excess fund balance has also decreased. If you remember, there there was a time where where we weren't at zero, but but we definitely weren't uh where we are right now. Okay, so uh just a thought. Dr. Rios, I just want to ask uh were there any changes from the original packet that we got from this the one that we have here in front of us? As far as for the
052uh the numbers. For these numbers, I I I don't believe uh there were. Mr. Chapa, w- was there any modifications done to this presentation? Yeah, we added a summary slide at the end, Mr. Mesa. That was it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Anyone else? We're good? Mr. Galindo. On the water loop, Dr. Rios, just for the clarification, it's also understood that we only have one line that goes to ECH and to Del Rio High School. So, if something was to happen on Cantu and that water cut off that water line cut off, we'd lose water to basically all our secondary area there on Memorial, correct? Yes, sir. And so, by adding this water loop, it would add, looks like, an additional one, two, three different areas to get sources of water from. Yes, sir. Okay. Ms. Witt.
053I I just want to say thank you, Dr. Riles, for presenting this because you're correct with a girl's softball field whenever it rains. They can't move their vehicles. Yeah. There's puddles out there. So, there's a lot of things that we do need to look at. So, I thank you for bringing that to our attention as well and including it in here so we can at least have a look at it. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Ms. Wood. Uh I want to mention uh one more thing and that's um uh I'm glad the district presented at the uh winter governance in Galveston because uh there were a lot of positive comments from TASB at our meeting that um so [clears throat] many people were interested because they don't have that option of choosing different things. They
054don't have the interactive worksheet that we are allowed to have from administration and make our decisions there. But, I think it it helps for us to um you know, learn together, work together, and celebrate our successes together because at the end it takes all seven to be able to be able to balance the budget and and do the things that are priorities for us. So, thank you for presenting at the governance camp. And thank you for allowing everybody to have a decision to what the priorities will be for next year. Yes, sir. And with that being said, we don't have anything else on the agenda. We have one more thing, Ms. Riles. And what thing? The bond. Oh, okay. Yes, we do. Yes, sir. We have uh proposed bond election projects. Factories? There's another reason,
055Ms. Riles, why we're bringing the bond the a proposed bond project. If we had a bond project, it it would occur a year from from now. But, there's definitely work that we'd have to do to prepare for that bond. One of the the items would be consideration for any of the maintenance and operation projects that may [clears throat] not be funded through maintenance and operation if the board chooses to not go in in that direction, and then some of those projects would come to the bond. And it just takes time to to have that selection, make those decisions, get the appropriate quotes, and and then hire the people that we need to hire to help us. Uh the bond projects, just a reminder, and all of these are projects from the previous bond election that
056was not successful in November. This bond election would happen in May. There would be no uh other candidates, city, hospital, or school on the ballot. It would simply be a bond election for the school district. Uh we have to do the entire remodel at Buena Vista. Um $5 million, and that's all the the classrooms and the hallways at Buena Vista. It would also include some of the uh air conditioning, lighting, flooring. The New Tech Academy at San Felipe Memorial Middle School. The second uh gymnasium at uh San Felipe Memorial Middle School. And the rebuild of the freshman campus, which according to the committee the bond committee, was the number one project, the number one priority. And that one will cost $25 million. Those are those are the only things that we believe that we wouldn't
057be able to handle ourselves um if the money was available where it would be better to go through a bigger project, a bigger package in a bond. Okay. And that right now that's 37 million unless some projects from uh the maintenance and operation budget would come into the bond. Uh we'll continue to work with the board. The first thing is to get through the budget and uh determine how we balance a budget. We still need a lot of information uh from our partners, uh particularly from OK City, which will be the next meeting. The next meeting we will be able to present to the board an estimated revenue budget. We will have uh the information on the insurance. Uh if not a decent projection of what it can be, a decent projective of what the
058uh energy cost would be. And then we all will select a type of raise, and then we can move forward. Okay. I I I do have a question. Uh it's a difficult question, but we just need to prepare. As we get the the information, uh do you want us to include a partial contribution uh by the employees equal to what the City of Del Rio requires their employees uh to to pay, or is that continues to be off the table and we just continue to do what we've done the last 13 years and provide the options of where the district continues to carry the the the the cost? >> [clears throat] >> I'd like to answer that question, but I'll I'll let the the other people interject as well. I'd like to see what the
059insurance percentage that goes up first before you know, I would make a decision. I won't be here, but I would like to see how what the increase is going to be first. I'll turn it over to Mr. Orfeld. I think maybe not necessarily and just City of Del Rio contribution, but looking at surrounding ISDs Um and it can be used as an informational item for a comparison item for when we're we're looking at that and and [clears throat] and justifying still being able to give with the hope of of going in and and still giving that quote-unquote free option or the district paid option to be able to go in and say these are districts of our size and what they have to do and we're able to still do this. I think it would
060be good for a side-by-side so that people can can see that there is a there is a noticeable difference and as Mr. Mesa mentioned earlier one of the really kind of one of the big fringe benefits of working for San Felipe Del Rio. Thank you, Mr. Overfelt. Mr. Velindo. I would just like to to leave it off the table as much as possible. And what I mean by that is just the last resort item. I would like to see what comes in. Um you know, trying to give a raise and then it kind of gets overcome with that that you know, that's rough. Also understanding you know the the just the position that the district is in as well what we want to move forward and progress with but um I mean Mayor Mr. Overfelt
061says an informational item but for me it would be more that would be a last resort type effort to to put some of that cost onto the employees. Mr. Witt. I I agree as well. I feel that if as long as we the district can provide the insurance for employees that's a very big benefit to our employees. However, not just a side-by-side between our district and other districts because I can tell you a lot of districts that the employees pay for their own insurance. So, for us, that's a net of plus for our employees. However, have a three-way, our district where it's paid, other districts, and then with the city. Because we also have to look at our employees, they don't work like city, that they come in at 8:00 and leave at 5:00. They
062work many hours with with our students. So, I would like to to see what we can do to give them that option of the insurance being paid. However, if it's not possible, we all they also see that side by side. Give them that flexibility as well. And well, like Mr. Mesa said in the past, sometimes the board has chosen to give a 4% raise um if if the insurance climate is favorable, and then if it isn't, they'll give a 2% raise and a 1% raise, and then cover the insurance. So, there are options. Um but, I think that providing the board with all the information, and then having y'all decide is is is probably also important. But, so we won't add it as an option, but we'll definitely as an informational item. Okay, with that
063being said, any further questions for Dr. Reyes? I just hope uh you [clears throat] know, for whatever time is left from my tenure in the board, that um perhaps we can separate some of these proposed bond projects, um so that we can have a favorable result at the end when we go for a bond in May. That some of them could be separated. That's my recommendation, but Sure, just you you mean have a different propositions, one proposition for the freshman campus, one for San Felipe Middle School, one for um Buena Vista, and possibly one for any other things that we would add on there. Yeah. Okay. Understood. With that being said, I don't have any other items on the agenda. Is there a motion for adjournment? Mr. Galindo. Seconded by Mr. Rufelt. All those in
064favor? Motion carried. We are adjourned. Thank you and good night, everyone. >> Thank you.