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The $2.1 million renovation project for New Bremen's Cardinal Field is on schedule to be completed by this fall. Concrete walkways under the New Bremen Cardinal Stadium entrance were repaved.
NEW BREMEN - New Bremen Local Schools board members heard a facility update from superintendent Jason Schrader, who noted that the $2.1 million stadium and track project is on schedule.
The project, which has been a topic of discussion for several months, is estimated to cost $2,105,883, including both track and stadium phases. It is estimated to finish in the fall.
"I'm glad to say today that we finally finished up the concrete work, that has been completely checked off the list," Schrader said. "The main part of the shelter house is up, they're putting electric in it right now. The exterior should get finished up any time they're able to come back to do that. The fence is progressing and they're back working on some of the landscaping. I had some great news today. The track surface was scheduled to be after Sept. 7, (but) they were here tonight, doing a walk through. Plans start tomorrow on the pole vault and long jump and then they'll kind of progress from there."
A new concessions building and flagpole location have been erected as the renovation project at New Bremen's Cardinal Field nears completion.
The district approved a $920,000 contract with Bruns Construction to update the track in December. The project includes milling the existing track and base; installing a new stone sub-base, asphalt base and polyurethane impervious track surface; installing new field event approaches with an enlarged high jump area; and installing a second pole vault pit.
At the November meeting, board members awarded a $1,185,883 contract to H.A. Dorsten Inc. of Minster to update the stadium. The second phase includes new concrete walks and a 4-foot, black chain-link fence at the track perimeter with caps, a new 6-foot aluminum fence and brick piers along the east side, new concrete under the bleachers, new lighting and paint under the bleachers, additional lighting for the press box signage, new LED lighting in the concession building, new sideline turf and a new flagpole location.
The concrete pad for the second pole vault pit was installed. Bruns Construction is doing the track and field renovations. H.A. Dorsten Inc. of Minster is working on stadium updates.
In July, Schrader briefed members that crews painted the home bleacher support structure, were preparing the area under the bleachers for concrete, were installing a fence around the track and stadium perimeter, were to asphalt the track, were to install the shelter house foundation, were to install brick on the piers soon, were prepping the brick for the landscape signage, installed the sideline turf and completed the concrete pad for the second pole vault pit.
A rebuilt track is part of the renovation project for New Bremen's Cardinal Stadium.
In other business, board members approved the district's five year forecast.
Overall, district treasurer Jill Ahlers said the forecast shows the district in a stable position in the near term, but she projects increasing financial pressure in the back half of the forecast.
She told board members she is estimating about $695,000 as a cash balance at the end of the five-year forecast period, a stark contract to recent numbers.
In fiscal year 2027, the district would have $471,371 in revenue surplus for an ending balance of $5,005,789, she said.
"Expenditure growth is projected to outpace revenue change," Ahlers wrote in her report. "By the end of 2030, the cash balance is projected to decline by a total of $3,838,785. For fiscal year 2030, expenditures are currently projected to exceed revenue, resulting in a revenue shortfall the final year of the forecast period."
Things shift over the course of the five-year period with fiscal year 2028 ending in $746,461 in deficit spending, $1,738,863 in deficit spending in 2029 and $1,824,832 in deficit spending in 2030.
Ahlers cited decreased state funding as a reason for some of those figures, namely the state funding formula.
"Notably, state funding is expected to be $874,355 less per year compared to history, and is the biggest driver of trend change on the revenue side," she wrote.
Beginning in fiscal year 2022, Ohio adopted the Fair School Funding Plan in which funding is driven by a base cost methodology that incorporates the four components identified as necessary to the education process, she wrote in her report.
"The formula continues to use 2022 cost data for salaries and expenses, even though local property values and resident incomes have increased," Ahlers told The Daily Standard in a text after the meeting. "As a result, the state's calculation indicates that New Bremen has greater local capacity to fund education, which reduces the district's share of state funding. The impact can be seen in the district's per-pupil state funding. The state share of the per-pupil base cost was 52% in fiscal year 2024, but is projected to decline to 48% in fiscal year 2025; 43% in fiscal year 2026, 37% in fiscal year 2027, 30% in fiscal year 2028, 24% in fiscal year 2029 and just 20% in fiscal year 2030. The district is essentially seeing rising local wealth and outdated cost inputs combine to produce less state funding, even though the actual cost of operating the district continues to increase."
The district's base cost is $7,196,240 in 2027 and the state's share of the calculated base cost total is $2,622,096, or $3,204 per pupil.
Ahlers said the concern is intensified by an abnormally large 41% increase in federal adjusted gross income for tax year 2024.
"FAGI represents the income of residents within the school district as reported on their federal tax returns and is one of the measures Ohio uses to determine a district's local capacity to fund education," she wrote. "Because FAGI is one of the factors used to determine local capacity under the state funding formula, this increase negatively affects the district's state funding beginning in fiscal year 2027.
Ahlers said because of the anomaly, she prepared an adjusted forecast using a more conservative FAGI estimate for tax year 2025 instead of carrying the entire increase forward.
"Under this adjusted scenario, the district's projected ending cash balance improves by approximately $353,000 in fiscal year 2028, $987,000 in fiscal year 2029 and $1.44 million by fiscal year 2030," she wrote. "This results in a projected ending balance of approximately $2.14 million for fiscal year 2030, compared with approximately $696,000 under the original forecast."
The New Bremen school board meets next at 6 p.m. Sept. 16 in the high school library.
