Borough school buses to make final stop on North Slope

Frontiersman

PALMER — Three new school buses that have been parked and unused are heading north, and that means $250,000 for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District.

At that price the district would sell them for “more than those buses are probably worth,” director of maintenance Scott Schwald told school board members Wednesday. North Slope Borough Schools bid on the buses and are willing to pay a premium because the two 54-passenger and one 65-passenger buses are needed there.

The district owns 19 buses and parked them 18 months ago when it contracted with Laidlaw Transportation to carry kids to area schools, Schwald said. When the buses were purchased the district was “still in the transportation business.”

“These are brand new buses … and they are sitting there depreciating,” he said.

The 2007 Thomas buses were purchased for $282,095.96 and had an appraised value of $239,781.57, so the district lost $32,095 overall. The buses were bought almost two years ago and had never had license plates attached, so they retained their value very well, Schwald said.

One can carry two wheelchairs as well as 63 seated passengers while the two 54-seaters do not have a lift. The sale price is $19,218 over the estimated value of the vehicles and at a time when the district is a little short on cash due to lower than expected enrollment and unanticipated costs associated with opening a temporary campus to replace a rural high school destroyed by fire June 5.

The district gets a base allocation of $5,380 for each student from the state and is has 150 fewer students than expected for 2007-2008.

Board member Dan Contini had been concerned the district might not benefit from the sale before being assured by Schwald that the deal was good financially for the district.

“We’re selling them to the North Slope, which has more money than God,” Contini said before asking if that district was getting a price cut on the value of those buses.

Classified Employees Association President Ron Rucker told the board to hold onto the buses, as a lawsuit about outsourcing before the state’s supreme court could affect the district’s agreement with its outside bus contractor.

Board member Cheryl Turner favored the sale.

“How dare us say, ‘you can’t have the buses, you have to buy your buses brand new?’” Turner said.

The sale was opposed by board members Linda Menard and Sarah Welton.

Contact John R. Moses at 352-2270 or john.moses@frontiersman.com.