Starr's Mill High School's football stadium should be "substantially complete by the end of August," Richard Burton, architect for the project, told the Fayette County Board of Education Monday night.

The board agreed unanimously to proceed with funding through COPS (certificates of participation), giving School Superintendent Dave Brotherton the green light to proceed with the paperwork.

No price tag was announced for the project, but the estimated price will be around $2 million, depending on how the bids come in, and what the board decides to deduct from the package.

"We are ready to go out and bid on the project Wednesday," Burton said. Refinancing of the Sandy Creek High School COPS will be included in the new COPS. COPS is a means of funding major projects through a lease purchase arrangement through the sale of bonds.

The board hashed over the order of deduction items for the stadium project, prioritizing what was absolutely necessary and earmarking what could be done in-house or postponed.

The final order is as follows: (1) football field sodding and irrigation system (to be done by the school system); (2) aluminum bleachers in place of concrete bleachers (a $200,000 savings); (3) visitor bleachers; (4) visitor concession stand and toilets for the visitor side; (5) rubberized coating for the eight-lane track surface; and (6) home concession stand and toilets.

School Board attorney Phil Hartley advised the members on breaking up the original $6 million funding and refinancing package after questions were raised last month by board members Woody Shelnutt and Connie Hale on its legality.

The school board is committed to a local share of $1.9 million to finance additions and renovations at Flat Rock Middle School and North Fayette Elementary. Hartley recommended taking that $1.9 million out of the general fund, and it was approved unanimously by the board.

"I'm confident we can deal with $1.9 million," Jim Stephens, school board finance director said. "Funding these two projects is not a problem. At the conclusion of the school year, our funding balance will exceed what we anticipated," Stephens said. " We should wind up with a $1 million greater than the $6.5 million in projected revenues."

Hartley said state Board of Education regulations do not allow local shares for state funded projects to come from COPS. In terms of funding improvements to fields and facilities at McIntosh High School, he added," COPS is not a viable, practical source of financing for smaller projects."

Hartley called working through small funding projects with COPS "administratively burdensome and could be legally troublesome." He recommended possibly looking at a lease purchase arrangement for a major expense such as school buses, thus freeing up the money to complete smaller projects.

The method of financing and the price of the Starr's Mill stadium and athletic facilities designed for the south complex which includes Starr's Mill, Rising Starr Middle School and Peeples Elementary has been on the school board's table for several months.

"There has been confusion all along," Debbie Condon, school board chairman, admitted. "We should have had a work session last fall," she told Burton. "When I saw the $3.1 million, then deducted the field house, I've got to tell you, Mr. Burton, I was thinking about what it would cost to build another Sandy Creek stadium. I never thought the price would escalate this much."

Estimated cost for the Starr's Mill project is $288 per square foot. Burton said he took the average cost of similar projects his firm, d w b architects, has built in the past five years and rounded up. Running 1,000 to 1,200 feet of sewer line and installing the necessary utilities drives up the price, Burton noted.