Wright outlines financials for referendum, Leola Hall projects

District Superintendent Jeff Wright gave an overview of the financials for the facilities referendum and Leola Hall project at the Sauk Prairie School Board meeting April 10th. Wright reported the referendum total as $49,583,351, with anticipated costs to be $49,536,573. Another $100,074 in contingency spending remains, meaning the district will end the referendum process with a $46,778 surplus. For the Leola Hall project, Wright said total funding available was $3,622,000. Anticipated costs are $4,519,805, with an additional $68,957 expected on contingency costs. The left the district with a projected deficit on the project as of April 6 of $897,805. Wright noted to the board that they did approve the project knowing there would be a deficit.  “I feel pretty good about this [remaining funding],” said Wright. He said “he could see” several hundred thousand dollars coming in, but did not want to commit to writing them down and presenting them to the board at this time. Wright, in giving the financial overviews, was listing committed funds. The board talked about creating a list of ideas of what went so right about the referendum, where several early decisions by the board allowed the project to survive pandemic prices and work crunches on time and on budget.  Finally, the board and a few audience members gave praise to departing board members Mary Ann Marx and Richard Judge. Marx chose not to run again after a good tenure on the board; Judge lost a very close reelection after spending well over a decade on the board.