School district set to splash out on pool funding

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District board has voted to borrow funds from the next fiscal year to help pay for renovation of the Corona del Mar High School swimming pool.

At the last school board meeting in July, members of the CDM Community Aquatics Facilities Foundation — a nonprofit organization devoted to updating the 16-year-old pool — asked the trustees to take $250,000 from the 2007-08 budget and move them up a year.

On Tuesday, the board voted, 6-1, in favor of transferring the funds, with Linda Sneen casting the sole dissenting vote.

With the city of Newport Beach having already pledged $290,000 in matching funds to the foundation, member Marian Bergeson called the school board’s vote a victory.

“We’re pleased to see that happen,” said Bergeson, a former state senator and the namesake of Corona del Mar High’s Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center. “It will allow us to utilize the dollars at an appropriate time, which would be cost-saving, given the heavy cost increase of materials and labor.

“Hopefully, we will move everything forward and get the job done. It’s a worthwhile project for the community.”

If the project goes through, Corona del Mar will be the fourth Newport-Mesa high school to undergo or plan a pool renovation in recent years. Newport Harbor High School revamped its pool several years ago, while Estancia High School is doing the same. Costa Mesa High School is set to have a new Olympic-sized pool under the Measure F school bond.

To come up with the funds for the Corona del Mar pool, Newport-Mesa will have to borrow from its capital reserve — known around the district as the “rainy day fund” — and replenish it with general funds for the coming fiscal year. As a result, the district will lose some of the interest it would accumulate for keeping the $250,000 another year, but most board members said it was worth it.

“I feel we need to send the message out that we’re willing to do joint use,” trustee Dana Black said at the meeting. “This is a really good use of taxpayer money.”

Deputy Supt. Paul Reed, who oversees the business end of the school district, noted that the district had borrowed future funds before, especially for the Measure A school bond six years ago.

“It’s a case of prudent practice,” he said. “In this case, we felt the advantage offered by the challenge grant from the city and getting the project moved earlier was worth the cost of moving the money.”