This post originally appeared at https://www.bootsandsabers.com/2024/01/24/west-bend-school-district-gets-229-4-million-facilities-estimate/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=west-bend-school-district-gets-229-4-million-facilities-estimate

Here we go! Referendum pending. I would remind readers that I and other local professionals did and analysis and made recommendations to improve and adjust facilities for the district four years ago. It would have reduced the footprint to match enrollment and made substantial improvements. Cost? About $50 million. The study was utterly ignored and they continued to neglect facilities like they had for the decade before. When the referendum comes, vote no. Don’t reward poor management.

WEST BEND — The West Bend School District’s construction partner, Findorff, provided financial estimates for four broad groups of building and site work that total $229.4 million over 15 years across the district, or more than $15 million a year on average.

The West Bend School Board heard the presentation at its Jan. 22 meeting, learning about how the detailed building and site conditions assessment completed in December of 2023 by Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA) were being used to develop the preliminary 15-year budgets.

That assessment covers current and future capital maintenance needs of the district’s facilities and sites, according to a recent release. The budget estimates presented at the meeting do not include estimated costs for the other two components of the facility assessment related to educational adequacy and capacity/space utilization.

According to Jen Wimmer, superintendent of the West Bend School District, the ongoing capital maintenance needs of the West Bend School District’s buildings are significant.