Salisbury Township SD to pursue state facility grant for HVAC, district to cover 25% match

Salisbury Township School District plans to apply for Pennsylvania’s Public School Facility Improvement Grant to accelerate HVAC and health‑and‑safety work, Mr. Rick Orbani told the operations and finance committee.

Administration identified three candidate projects that meet the grant’s narrow scope and could provide contractor efficiencies if bundled: a chiller, high‑school cafeteria HVAC, and HVAC controls. The full grant pool presented was $1.87 million; under the grant rules discussed by staff, the district would be responsible for a 25% local match on whatever award it receives—staff estimated a district match of about $469,000 if the award equals the full $1.87 million.

Administrators said they are preparing the grant application now; the grant requires three price estimates for each qualifying project and has a near‑term deadline, so the district has been scheduling contractor visits and discussing the work with retained consultants. Mr. Orbani said the board will see a resolution on the grant at the next meeting to authorize staff to apply and to obligate the local match on any award.

Why it matters: capital grants are a major lever for districts to accelerate building upgrades without fully relying on local tax increases or bond measures. Board members asked clarifying questions about the scope of qualifying items and whether the district would receive partial funding; staff confirmed the district’s obligation would match the awarded amount at 25%. The grant application is time‑sensitive because of pricing and submission requirements.

Next step: the resolution to authorize application will appear on the board agenda next week and staff will continue collecting contractor estimates and evaluating consultant support for grant writing.