CLEARFIELD – “In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin said this in one of his letters centuries ago, but the statement rings true even today.
The taxes we pay to government entities seem to increase nearly every year, but those funds pay for necessary things such as police protection, fire companies, public parks, schools and other services.
A lot of the buzz lately seems to surround the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center and its renovations, scheduled to begin Wednesday.
The $9.8 million project will totally renovate something in every area of the CCCTC. Some areas, such as the diesel mechanic program and the nursing program, are gaining some square footage, making the building a full 20 percent larger. Other areas, such as the truck-driver training program are being relocated.
This area shows the end of the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center’s building, the area where the new diesel mechanic instruction area as well as the truck-driver training program will be located. (Dawn Walls)
Lois Richards, executive director, said the idea to renovate the CCCTC started more than three years ago. The idea to renovate actually started with Richards’ predecessor, Dr. Richard Makin, who ordered a feasibility study to be done on the building. He left the CCCTC in January 2004.
“The infrastructure, the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), was in need of repair, and the welding shop as a big impetus for this project,” she said.
The total price tag for the renovations: $9.8 million. The cost was $8 million, but due to the rising cost of building materials, the cost went up.
The number is a big one, one that stares back at the reader, pounds its fists on the table and demands to be examined further.
However, that figure isn’t going to be pulled from taxpayers’ pockets through local funding.
Of the $9.8 million, $5.8 million will be refunded to the CCCTC’s sending districts from the Pennsylvania Department of Education over the next 20 years. That figure increased by more than $1 million over the previously expected reimbursement, again, due to inflation.
Just like everyone else, the CCCTC isn’t able to buy things without some capital to start with. That money is coming from the assumption of debt from the CCCTC’s six sending districts: Clearfield, Curwensville, Harmony, Moshannon Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola and West Branch.
The CCCTC took out $8 million worth of bonds in March 2005. Those bonds will earn interest over the life of the bond issue.
Then, the CCCTC decided to remove an energy-savings project from the overall project.
The change dropped the $9.8 million project to an $8.2 million for improvements to areas other than infrastructure.
The energy savings project isn’t being scrapped. That project will be done as a separate bond issue and will cost about $1.6 million itself, with the bond issue for that project being $1.4 million. The other $200,000 needed according to the estimates will come from investment earnings on that bond issue. Richards said the move to a more energy-efficient HVAC system will amount to a savings of more than $1 million in 15 years and more than $1.5 million over 20 years. However, the savings are based on the cost at the current price of energy. When those costs go up, so do the school’s savings.
What that means, according to Les Bear of Arthurs, Lestrange and Co. Inc., the CCCTC’s investment adviser, is that the capital the CCCTC borrows — as compared to the money to be reimbursed from the state and from investment earnings — are a “wash.”
And, the CCCTC will still be able to realize the savings from the energy project, which will not only install a new HVAC system, but also some new windows and upgrades in other areas.
The entire CCCTC is set to undergo the renovation beginning Wednesday, and work will continue at the school through at least August 2007.
Through the work, new programs are expected to be added, but what they are remains to be seen. Some ideas include HVAC, protective services and building construction trades, a mix of several course plans at the CCCTC.
“This is definitely not the school of years ago,” Richards said, and pointed to the fact that as technology changes, so do the offerings at the school.
The Clearfield County Career and Technology Center is embarking on a $9.8 million renovation project, outlined on this floor plan, created by Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, architects. The areas shown in light yellow are new construction at the CCCTC. (Dawn Walls)
Program offerings at the school currently include: architectural drafting, electronics and communications technology, masonry and building construction technology, carpentry and building construction technology, residential and commercial electrical technology, automotive mechanics technology, collision repair technology, diesel equipment maintenance and repair technology, culinary arts and food management, cosmetology, health occupations technology, diversified occupations, precision machining technology, welding technology, distributive education and marketing and computer information technology.
For more information on the CCCTC, visit them online at www.ccctc.org.