Plans to build a new Nitschmann MS are a sign of a recovering economy.

This according to Bethlehem Superintendent Dr. Joseph Roy, who said the $53 million project, part of a 20-year master facilities plan, was slated to be worked on back in 2007.

"As we have regained our financial footing over the last five years, we started to look again at the Nitschmann project about three years ago," Roy said after a March 16 finance committee meeting that examined the project.

About $5 million of the cost will be paid from the district's capital reserve fund ,which is essentially a savings account for capital and building projects.

Nearly $50 million will be borrowed through fixed rate bonds, Roy said, in which the interest rate is fixed throughout the life of the bond. This borrowing will be done through two phases: the first which will borrow about $30 million this spring to pay for the first year of construction, and the second which will borrow the remaining $20 million to finish the project.

"This allows us to not have to not have to pay a larger debt service for the first year," Roy said. "(It) also allows us to adjust the amount of the second borrowing based on our projected costs to finish the project."

Roy anticipates a debt service of about $2.5 million per year throughout the life of the bond. But the district will receive about $4.4 million per year starting in 2021 when a tax increment finance, or TIF, agreement expires in 2020.

"In other words, we plan to pay for the cost of the project with revenue we know will be coming from the TIF deal," he said.

The TIF deal is the development of the old Bethlehem Steel site, primarily Sands Casino.

Construction of the new middle school is scheduled to start this summer.

The building is scheduled to start being used at the beginning of the 2017 school year, when it will be erected behind the current building.

Budget Talks

Committee members did not shoot down requests by three notable education services for slightly more funds during the 2015-'16 school year.

On the contrary, they were largely complimentary to representatives who gave presentations on the services: Northampton Community College, Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School, and Colonial Intermediate Unit 20.

Vo-Tech will receive about a 6 percent increase in funding, while Northampton Community College will receive about a 2.6 percent increase, and Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 will receive about 2.4 percent.