Kingfisher Public Schools has taken the next step toward making three major construction projects a reality.

The board of education last Tuesday approved the projects to be sent to bidders.

The move was made during the regular September meeting.

The projects are a new locker room facility for junior high students, renovations to the concession stand at the football field and an addition to the ag barn.

“The plan is to bid them all together to try to get economy of scale,” Jason Hukill, an architect with LWPB Architecture, said to the board.

LWPB has handled multiple projects for the district, including designing the three on tap, and most recently designed the new Kingfisher Junior High.

Joe D. Hall General Contractors will be the project manager.

Van Storm of Joe D. Hall said, provided final plans are completed early this week, bids will be advertised beginning this week.

If that timeline is kept, bids will be opened at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12.

There was a bid opening for the ag barn addition over a year ago, but bids came in well over projections and the board was advised to stall the project in hopes of costs going back down.

That hasn’t been the case.

The board was provided a pre-funding estimate that was prepared by Joe D. Hall.

It gave “high range” and “low range” estimates for each of the projects based on pricing dated Aug. 31. The information also showed an estimated cost for the projects last December.

In the case of each, the costs continue to rise and substantially in some cases.

The budget summary provided to the board showed a low range estimated cost of $1.35 million for the 4,500 square-foot locker room facility. The high range cost was just under $1.5 million.

The concession renovations were projected from $540,000 to $661,000.

The ag addition projections ranged from $500,000 to $661,721.

Adding utilities, paving some of the areas around the concessions and locker rooms and re-locating the commemorative plaza that sits on the south end of the football field put the total projections from $2.73 million to just under $3.2 million.

LWPB is still working on plans for renovations to Gilmour Elementary School, which will be another phase of projects the board will be asked to send to bidders later this year.

The district, said Glover, will explore multiple avenues to finance the projects.

The good news for the district - and it was reiterated at the meeting - is its current financial condition.

In the treasurer’s report dated Aug. 31, the district had more than $14.6 million in the general fund. There’s another $1.9 million in the building fund.

Glover said the district’s gross production revenues have increased each of the past four months and are expected to remain high.

The district collected $661,318 in July and $731,880 in August.

September’s revenues hadn’t been collected as of press time, but were expected to still be in that range.

Glover also reminded the board that it’s necessary to spend down some of those monies.

The state can start penalizing the district next year for having a carryover that’s too large, based on its formula.

“We can either spend it on the kids and our staff or we can give it to the state,” he said.

Glover said he plans to meet with those in charge of the formula to see what Kingfisher’s carryover can be without being penalized.

“I want the state to tell us, ‘Here’s what KPS should have as a carryover,’” he said. “Then once we have that number, we can start deciding where we want that money to go.”