Swatara

Swatara, MN · Education
northernnewsnow.com
Mesabi Tribune
Hibbing Board explores options to fund high school roof repair
HIBBING—There are portions of the Hibbing High School roof that are leaking and are in critical need of repair, and the school board is considering options to fund the repairs. Through a 2025 Legislative change a levy option is now allowable for schools to access funds through the levy process to complete roof projects over $100,000 per site, District Business Manager Lance Takkunen explained. The School Board took up the matter as a discussion item this past week, and is anticipated to discuss the costs and levy impact for taxpayers at its next two meetings, according to Takkunen. “Our historical approach has been to do section by section roof repairs and use our LTFM (long-term facility maintenance) capital funds to fund those projects,” Superintendent Carrie McDonald explained during a discussion on the matter at the school board meeting Wednesday. “Our current challenge that we face is that the high cost is consuming a substantial amount of our capital and leaving fewer dollars for other facility needs each year.” Going from a proactive to reactive approach for roof repair An option is to do “a strategic shift” where the district would evaluate a new bonding authority to try to solve its