OTHELLO — The general fund budget for the Othello School District for the 2016-17 school year will be $48,552,376 for the 2016-17 school year. The general fund pays salaries and most district operations and maintenance costs.

Assistant superintendent Gina Bullis presented the preliminary budget to the Othello School Board at its regular meeting Monday. It will be on the agenda for approval at the Aug. 22 meeting.

The district’s capital projects budget, which must be used to pay for capital improvements, was budgeted at $3,440,000. The debt service fund was projected at $2,352,782; that money pays off debt incurred through bond issues. The Associated Student Body fund was budgeted at $457,100. The transportation vehicle fund, which can only be used to buy buses, was budgeted at $275,000.

In other business, board members deferred action on awarding a bid for new tennis courts, and will schedule a meeting to go over the proposal.

Board members already have approved construction of eight tennis courts. T.W. Clark Construction submitted the apparent low bid, $691,000, which includes the eight courts and a wind barrier.

Board members were scheduled to award the bid Monday, but board chair Juan Garza said a board member who couldn’t make the meeting asked that approval be deferred. Board member Rob Simmons asked if delaying approval would affect the construction schedule.

Bullis said the bid process was delayed; the project was bigger than district officials anticipated, and they hired an engineer and architect to help with design. The project didn’t go out to bid until July, and the deadline was pushed back another few weeks to attract more bidders.

The bid must be awarded within the next week to 10 days to ensure the project is finished this fall, Bullis said. If it’s delayed past that, the asphalt for the courts probably would be completed this fall, but the overlay surface might be delayed until spring 2017. That could keep the courts out of commission for the spring 2017 season. In answer to a question from board member Rob Simmons, Bullis said rebidding the project would mean delaying it to spring 2017.

Board members gave permission for an Othello student working on his Eagle Scout project to paint a map of the states at Hiawatha Elementary.

Jacob Risenmay, 14, said a community service project is part of his Eagle Scout requirements, and he chose to donate to Hiawatha, where he attended grade school. He’s already met with the Hiawatha principal, but needed school board approval before he could work on the fundraising, he said.

The map will show all 50 states and will be painted somewhere on the playground.