A Coeur d'Alene School District trustee is calling for the sale of the district's central office building to replenish the school system's dwindling contingency fund.

Dave Eubanks told his fellow trustees during Monday night's school board meeting he believes selling the 21,000-square-foot commercial property is the most practical way to replace $1.8 million in contingency funds used to cover a building project shortfall.

"In the last year or so, our district has been the loser in a series of grievous miscalculations involving the reconstruction of Winton Elementary School, on the part of someone who, not surprisingly, is no longer employed with us," Eubanks said.

Winton was one of five aging schools targeted for major renovations financed by a $32.7 million bond voters approved in 2012. The projects were overseen by the district's former chief operations officer, Wendell Wardell. Wardell parted ways with the school district last fall.

The new Winton school building is slated to open this fall.

The original construction budget for Winton was $4.9 million. The condition of the 85-year-old school called for a rebuild at a higher cost, and the additional funds were expected to come from savings on other building projects under the bond and from the sale of the district's Northshire property off Atlas Road.

The savings realized fell short of what was anticipated, and the Northshire property sold for a lower price than expected.

In January, Eubanks and the other four trustees comprising the school board, agreed to take nearly $1.9 million from the district's unrestricted fund balance account, which serves as a contingency fund, to assure contractors working on Winton they would be paid.

"As troubling as that was for us to take back then, I still believe it was the right thing to do," Eubanks said Monday.

He said he is troubled the district's contingency fund is now $1 million and the district's general operating fund for 2015-16 is $69 million.

"My fellow trustees, you and I have the authority, responsibility and resources already at hand to solve this problem," Eubanks said.

He said the district has several valuable assets the board could consider selling: The now-vacant Hayden Lake Elementary School, 10 acres of land the district owns on Thomas Lane near Nettleton Gulch, and the district office on Northwood Court at the intersection of Ironwood Drive and Northwest Boulevard.

Eubanks said it's hard to gauge the value of Hayden Lake Elementary and he would be hesitant to sell a "viable school." The sale of the Thomas Lane property would only generate a few hundred thousand dollars, he said, not nearly enough to replenish the contingency fund.

"The district office on the other hand is another matter - a $3 million luxury office building on prime commercial real estate," Eubanks said.

He said several thousand of the building's 21,000 square feet of office space are currently not in use, and said the actual number of people working in the district office on a daily basis "amounts to hardly more than we have in a typical science class at Lake City High School."

"I believe it is a luxury we cannot afford, and that it would serve our district far better at this time to sell it and use the proceeds to completely shore up our vital...contingency reserve."

The district acquired the building through a lease-purchase option arrangement that trustees approved in November 2012. The $2.2 million purchase option was exercised after nine months of occupancy at a lease price of $21,000 per month.

Financing for the property was generated by the school district internally. Nearly $1 million from a school district real estate acquisition account was used along with funds raised through the sale of Person Field to the city of Coeur d'Alene. At least $48,000 from the district's fund balance reserve was also used.

The district's old office on 10th Street was demolished during the renovation of Sorensen Elementary.

Eubanks recommended using the vacant Hayden Lake Elementary School as the new district office, for two years at least, following the sale of the building.

He asked the trustees and administrative team to think about his proposal, and requested the issue be placed on the agenda for the board's Aug. 3 meeting.

"Restoring a healthy contingency reserve to our district will be good for kids, it will be good for our employees, and it will be greatly appreciated by our taxpayers," Eubanks said.

Board chair Christa Hazel and Matt Handelman clarified that the Winton project did not go over-budget; there were no cost overruns. Handelman said the cost of all the bond-financed building projects, because of the Winton situation, pencils out to roughly $34.7 million, $2 million more than the bond amount.

"The board was led to believe there was more money available than there was," Handelman said.

Brian Wallace, the district's new director of finance and operations, said the bond-financed projects expected to come in under budget did, but not by as much as anticipated.

"The amount of work the district got done for $32.7 million is honestly amazing," Wallace said. "I still can't believe the work that was done for that amount. I think that needs to be reinforced."

Wallace said he feels they need to follow a multi-year process to replenish the contingency fund.

Trustee Tom Hearn said he doesn't have a problem with selling the district office building, provided the central office employees are not put "in some dumpy place somewhere."

Eubanks said he had no issue with moving the district office employees from the old 10th Street building.

"It was a nightmare and said to be haunted," Eubanks said. "But I think we've gone from one extreme to the other."

Eubanks noted that the district's contingency fund was $7.6 million in 2011-12 and it is projected to be $2.9 million by the end of this fiscal year.

He said $32.7 million was approved by voters to fund the construction projects under the bond, and now taxpayers have to pay $2 million more.

Casey Morrisroe, one of two new trustees now on the board, said he thinks selling the district office would be short-sighted, that it will cost more money. He said he is concerned about the continued erosion of the contingency fund, but is not convinced selling the district office makes sense.

Eubanks said he has heard the district office is valued at $3 million, and even if they spend $500,000 to move the district office to Hayden Lake Elementary, they will still have $2.5 million.

"I would hate to see us in serious financial difficulty in a few years, with a very pretty building," Eubanks said.