School bus storage move to cost less than expected

By Harold Gwin

Ending the lease on a bus garage is expected to save the district $300,000 a year.

YOUNGSTOWN — City school officials estimated it would cost $353,594 to relocate its school bus storage operation from a leased garage on Albert Street to an open lot on Teamster Drive.

It turns out the price tag will be considerably less, said Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent of school business affairs.

He told the school board business committee this week that the cost is now expected to stop at $244,044, a savings of $109,550 from the original estimates.

The district is doing all it can to keep the expense down, DeNiro said.

The property, purchased from MPS Properties of Youngstown, was listed at $89,000, but the district bought it for $55,000, DeNiro said.

A small building on the lot needed to be demolished at a cost expected to be $5,000, but the city handled the job and it cost the district nothing, he said.

Fencing around the site was expected to cost around $21,000, but the job will be done for $5,450, DeNiro said.

Finally, a large portion of the lot will have to be paved and the original estimate for that work was $130,000. The district got three bids on the job and will take the lowest at $75,000, he said.

Removal of old fuel tanks at the leased garage, installation of a new tank on Teamster Drive, erecting heat poles to help start the bus diesel engines in the winter and installing security cameras and lighting still remain to be done, but that work is all part of the revised total $244,044 cost, DeNiro said.

The district undertook the relocation project as a cost-cutting measure as the school board sought ways to reduce spending in light of general fund budget deficits that amounted to $15 million in fiscal 2006-07 and $10.4 million in fiscal 2007-08.

School officials have estimated that moving from the leased facility to its own property will save about $300,000 a year in rental, utility and other costs.

It will also move the fleet of 75 buses next door to the district’s vehicle maintenance facility located in the district warehouse on Teamster Drive.

The bus lot will be large enough to park 56 buses. The rest will be parked in the warehouse.

gwin@vindy.com