May 17—YATESVILLE — The cost for adding 10 classrooms to the Martin F. Quinn Primary Center was finally set at Wednesday's regular monthly meeting when the Pittston Area School Board awarded four contracts at a total cost of $5.8 million. That's well below the maximum borrowing of $17.5 million authorized in December, which Superintendent Kevin Booth had said at the time would almost certainly not be needed.
Champion Builders Inc. got the general construction contract at a bit more than $4.3 million. Scranton Sheet Metal won the mechanical construction contract at $777,800. Richard Mellow will do the electrical construction for $417,400. And Scranton Electrical Heating and Cooling got the plumbing construction contract for $315,679. The board appointed Samuel J. Marranca as construction consultant for the project, authorizing district officials to form an agreement setting the duties, terms, conditions and compensation for the services. The project will add 10 classrooms, two bathrooms and two storage rooms in two stories.
The board also passed a proposed final budget sets spending at $62.5 million with no property tax increase. Business Consultant Tom Melone said the proposal would require using about $900,000 of a fund balance expected to be more than $7 million by the end of June, but he added that he expects the shortfall to evaporate when the state passes an education budget that likely will see an increase in state funding to the district.
By state law, school boards must pass a final budget by June 30. Districts can and sometimes do make changes between approval of the proposed budget and the final version.
In related moves, the board approved the budget for the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center for the next school year, approved a schedule of contracted professional services from the Luzerne Intermediate unit, and approved an agreement with the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit for special education services.
The CTC is run by a Joint Operating Committee with representative from school boards of five member school districts, and each board must approve the CTC budget. The state's Intermediate Units provide a variety of services to school districts, generally based on a per-pupil fee schedule. The estimate for services from the LIU for 2023-24 is $450,016.
The board also:
—Approved a contract with Kelly Bros., LLC for door locks for all buildings at $50,400, and awarded a contract for door alarms for all buildings to Computer Visionaries, Inc., at a cost of $34,714.
—Agreed to advertise for duplicating paper and for a beverage provider for 2023-24.