Gloucester supervisors unanimously approved the appropriation of $15.5 million of uncommitted capital funds to Gloucester County Public Schools for Gloucester High School renovations. The action was taken during the board’s meeting Tuesday night in the colonial courthouse.

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, the money from the FY 2023 Capital Fund budget was reserved in the budget to be appropriated when needed.

In March, the board supported the schools in seeking bids for the high school renovations and an expanded scope that featured renovations to A-Hall, C-Hall, the band room and the construction of a new chorus room. Another project included in the renovation project as an alternative was the refinishing of the athletic floor for $43,800.

The $15.5 million will be funded by revenue through the 1 percent sales tax for new school construction and major renovations. Construction Manager Charles Records said of the total about $7 million would be needed to cover the cost of anticipated inflation.

Records also presented a rough design of a site plan for the parking lots and bus loop of the high school at the price of $2.4 million. The site plan is still in the conceptual stage with architects already tasked to create recommended improvements, including a dedicated bus loop, a wider field hockey field and the extension of the student parking lot, to be presented to the board at a later time.

Records said an improvement to the parking lots was something that was omitted from the original expanded scope that was presented in March. However, when the construction bid for the project came in at $3.7 million of a maximum bid cost of $7 million, the schools believed the site improvements to be the best use of the funds saved during the bidding process.

Schools superintendent Dr. Walter Clemons said that it’s exciting to finally be moving forward with the renovations after the long process it took to get to this point.