Site preparation for the Barren County Board of Education’s seventh elementary will begin soon.

The announcement comes after the school board has awarded a site preparation bid and authorized the sale of revenue bonds for the first phase of the project.

The $589,398 site preparation bid went to McNutt Construction, of Glasgow, which is the same company that did the site preparation for the new Temple Hill Elementary, according to construction manager Darrell Wheeler.

The school board followed Wheeler’s recommendation in awarding the bid to McNutt, but did not accept the company’s unit prices. Instead, the school board agreed to allow Wheeler to negotiate those prices down.

Work to prepare the property, which is near the intersection of North Race Street and US 31E North, is set to begin soon.

“He indicated he would be ready to start immediately,” Wheeler said.

After awarding the site preparation bid, the school board approved a revised building and grounds or BG-1, permit for the site work.

Bond counsel Joe Nance with Ross, Sinclaire and Associates, of Frankfort, explained to the school board that the Kentucky Department of Education recommended it do a separate BG-1 for the site preparation work so that it could determine the actual cost of the site.

The BG-1 lists the initial costs for the project, including the $589,398 for site preparation; $33,006 for architect/ engineer fee; $26,405, construction manager fee; $25,400, bond discount; $13,700, fiscal agent fee; $29,470 contingencies or 5 percent; $541,829, site acquisition; and $10,792 for bank, rating printing and other miscellaneous costs for a total of $1,270,000.

The school board has a projected total bonding potential of $12.l million. A portion of that amount comes from property tax revenue.

For the 2008 fiscal year, which ends June 30, the school board will receive $2,034,588 in property tax revenue. This amount includes the base 5 cent per $100 assessed value property tax the school board receives, plus two additional 5 cent per $100 assessed value property taxes, or growth nickels, it receives for being a growth district.

“Based on projections for next year, a conservative estimate of next year’s property assessment, those three nickels will produce $2,115,971,” Nance said. “You can see with general growth in property our nickels will produce about $80,000 more next year than they did this year.”

In addition to the growth nickels, the school board receives two equalizations from the state.

“Both of those equalizations are going to go up $624,405 this year and $752,690 next year. That’s the main difference that is allowing us to proceed with the new elementary school,” he said.

In addition to the property tax revenue, the school board will also be allowed to use $44,607 in funding from the 2006 School Facility Construction Commission offer of funding toward the project.