The Opportunity
Jefferson City, Missouri is home to both the Jefferson City School District and the Missouri State Capital. The School District services nearly 9,000 students in 16 school buildings. The district has two high schools, two middle schools and 12 elementary schools, plus several auxiliary service centers totaling over 1,400,000 square feet.
Like many school districts, Jefferson City was faced with aging facilities, rising utility costs, and limited financial resources. Before partnering with Navitas, the district patrons passed a bond issue to build a second high school and renovate their existing high school. By doing so, available bond dollars were allocated to the high school projects and the district did not have a clear mechanism to fund necessary improvements needed in other aging facilities. By partnering with Navitas, the district was able to enter into an energy savings performance contract to generate funding to pay for additional improvements in remaining school sites.
The Technical Solution
Navitas performed an investment grade audit of buildings throughout the district to identify critical facility issues and develop energy conservation and facility improvement measures to address them. The work included upgrading the interior lighting with energy efficient or LED lamps and fixtures. HVAC equipment upgrades, coordination of building automation systems, water source heat pump replacements, water conservation measures, building weatherization, and building performance optimization through data analytics.
The Financial Solution
Without using general obligation bond dollars, the district was able to fund $16 million in improvements by utilizing a guaranteed energy performance contract plus re-allocating dollars made available through ESSER funding. In addition to the energy savings generated through the performance contract, the district was also able to leverage savings from their maintenance, operations and utility budget as capital to make the needed upgrades to modernize their facilities.
