Austin High School and Knowlton Auditorium will be renovated this summer after the Austin Public Schools Board passed the sale of about $7.6 million in bonds for the renovations at a special meeting at the District Office Conference Room Thursday afternoon.

“We’ve been working on this for many, many months, so this is the culmination of a lot of people putting in effort and research,” Board Member Kathy Green said. “I think a lot of thought and planning has gone into both of these motions that we’ve had today.”

Jeff Seeley, a financial advisor from EHLERS, presented the board with the sale information.

About $5.3 million in general obligation alternative facilities bonds will be used for upgrading the more than 20-year-old heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) systems at AHS, and about $2.3 million in general obligation capital facilities bonds will go toward upgrading Knowlton Auditorium’s sound and electrical systems.

Finance and Operations Director Mark Stotts said the main priority was the HVAC system, but it worked well to take care of both projects at one time.

“You don’t want to run these systems to failure because then you end up with potentially more expensive repairs to the system,” Stotts said. “I think the school board made a good decision by trying to take care of the entire building at one time, and we’re getting ahead of this, and hopefully that will solve any problems that we might have down the road.”

The district will seek bids for construction in late December or early January. Construction is planned to begin right after the 2014-2015 school year and should finish before school resumes in the fall of 2015.

“We’ve always made it, and I’m thinking we’re going to make it here,” Stotts said.

The bonds will be issued around February of 2015, although if interest rates rise school officials may issue the bonds sooner to stay at a lower rate.

The alternative facilities bonds, or the money used to renovate the HVAC system, could increase the school district levy by an estimated 3.8 percent. It hasn’t been determined whether the change will show up on this fall’s or on next fall’s taxes; it depends on when the bonds are issued. There may be no impact next year.

The capital facilities bonds will not impact the levy, as principle and interest payments will be made out of the general fund. Austin Public Schools has already has a budget in place for paying those bonds.

The alternative facilities bonds are 20-year bonds, while the capital facilities bonds are 15-year bonds. The district used a similar concept when paying for I.J. Holton Intermediate School’s construction.

Stotts said the district will try to decrease the levy so the impact to taxpayers will be minimal. Currently, the estimated impact will be about $13 dollars per year on a $150,000 home, and Stotts said that works out to about $10 to $20 per year depending on the value of one’s home.

There were eight bidders on the alternative facilities bonds, with the winner being Stifel Nicolaus from Memphis, Tennessee. There were five bidders on the capital facilities bonds, the winner being Piper Jaffray & Co. from Minneapolis.

“We’ve dealt with Piper before, they’ve been low bidders on our bonds before,” Stotts said. “The other company I’m not as familiar with, but I do know they’re a reputable firm and they’re going to be able to sell those bonds and get them on the market.”

Because the HVAC system is a very in-depth project, the high school building will be out of use during the summer. This was one reason the board decided to make the auditorium changes at the same time. According to Stotts, Austin High School is the last building to get it’s HVAC system updated.

“We should be set for another 20 years after this,” he said.

Although the school will be closed during the summer, Green was not too worried about programs losing the space.

“I think that there’s been planning put before so that there’ll be minimal disruption,” she said.

Stotts was also not worried, although he did admit it will be inconvenient.

“We do have other facilities that we’re going to offer the same programs; it’ll just be a little different for parents and kids that they have to go to a different building,” Stotts said. “But I think we can get by for one summer.”

Green is hopeful updating the HVAC system will prevent future problems, but she is particularly excited about the renovations to Knowlton.

“Knowlton Auditorium is a jewel of our community that is so widespread,” Green said. “It’s used, be it the symphony or concerts, touring theater groups. It’s keeping what we have in this district … in good working order, so we can continue to serve the district.”

Stotts said the biggest issue with Knowlton has been the sound and electrical system being out of date, where community organizations have had to bring their own sound equipment. Although the plans are not drawn up yet, plans for the auditorium currently include renovating the open concourse area, the interior of the auditorium and making one wall removable for gym access.

“Potentially we can hold things like graduation in a facility that size,” Stotts said.

But he also said the space will be nice for community organizations as well as students, since many use the space for their own functions.

The district has discussed the project since I.J. Holton Intermediate School’s construction was completed.