A privately owned consulting firm will spend the next three to four months inspecting Lake Travis ISD facilities and assessing the current condition of the sites.

The LTISD board of trustees unanimously approved a $140,229 proposal April 19 for Alpha Facilities Solutions LLC to perform the district’s facility condition assessment. The project will be funded by LTISD’s 2012 bond.

Johnny Hill, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, financial and auxiliary services, said the company will start analyzing sites as soon as it signs the contract in May, and the process can take three to four months.

“This will allow us to go through and check all the equipment—everything we have on campus—as well as site locations, roads [and] irrigation,” Hill said. "We’ll check everything we got as well as [the sites for] new facilities we have coming on board.”

Alpha’s architects, engineers and other facility professionals will examine everything from systemic deficiencies and the remaining useful life of all major facility systems to the capital replacement needs and costs and the overall system compliance, according to Alpha’s work statement included in the April 19 meeting agenda materials.

When the analysis is complete, Alpha will give the board a prioritized list of what needs to be addressed first and how to correct any deficient conditions, along with a cost for any repairs, renovations or replacements that need to take place.

LTISD Superintendent Brad Lancaster said the facility assessment comes as a precursor to the next bond election, which he predicts will occur in November 2017.

At a recent Bee Cave Chamber of Commerce meeting, Lancaster said there is a possibility of a $200 million bond with no property tax increase for citizens, compared with 2012’s $158.5 million bond, which came with a $.09 tax increase.

“[No tax increase] is phenomenal,” he said. “Not many [school] districts can say that.”