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Austintown receives grant to replace old school buses
Photo
Colleen Murph
By Kalea Hall
AUSTINTOWN
Austintown schools have been awarded $1,070,880 to replace 14 diesel-fueled buses with propane-fueled buses, district officials announced Thursday.
Colleen Murphy, director of transportation, told the board of education that the grant funds come from the state Environmental Protection Agency’s Ohio Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant program.
“This is going to be a huge cost saver because these buses will all be under warranty,” Murphy said.
Murphy and her transportation department began applying for the grant in January and asked to replace 20 of the 40 district buses. The new buses will replace older ones that date from 1989 to 1997.
“Our fleet is very old,” Murphy said. “We struggle all the time to try and replace the buses.”
She said Austintown received the second-highest amount of money out of the 27 grants given to Ohio companies, cities and schools.
“We needed this so desperately,” Murphy said.
Superintendent Vince Colaluca was “ecstatic” Thursday when he heard the news.
“It’s a lot cleaner and more efficient,” Colaluca said. “That is something that we have been focusing on.”
In the past, Murphy has received Ohio EPA grants to “scrub” the diesel fuel in the buses and to install fuel fire heaters.
When the state stopped offering funding to update and replace older bus fleets, Murphy began applying for grants offered by the Ohio EPA.
The district will have to pay 20 percent of the cost for the grant just received, which will be more than $267,000. Since the project costs more than $25,000, Murphy said there will have to be a bidding process to decide what bus company to use. The new buses should arrive next year.
“This will be great for the district and the community, as well,” Murphy said.