Where does the money from building reserve levies go?

John Carter thinks in binders and boilers.

The bookshelves in his maintenance shop office are lined with structural and environmental reports. His cabinets are organized school by school.

This trove of data forms the basis of both the school districts big picture building plan and its yearly building reserve priorities.

Carters office began taking a hard look at the condition of schools about a decade ago, commissioning reviews of major facility components seismic stability, HVAC systems, accessibility and more at every school.

Once the studies were completed in 2008, Carter, director of support services for Helena Public Schools, presented an overview of each school, one at a time, during school board meetings. It took almost two years.

The district then created long-range plans, first with an in-depth study by Mosaic Architecture completed last January, and then with an operational report presented by Superintendent Kent Kultgen in March.

The studies yielded upwards of$60 million in so-called deferred maintenance and other targeted facilities projects well beyond the funding provided by a building reserve levy.

But the plan, Carter said, helps him determine what projects to invest in, and which may be better addressed by a bond issue.

Its juggling when you have twice as many project costs as you have money, he said.

So, where does the tax money go?

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Where does the money from building reserve levies go?