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WILTON — The board of selectmen Monday approved a conditional appropriation to cover a shortfall in funds to update the high school's heating, ventilation and air condition (HVAC) system.

The selectmen told school board president Karen Birck that they'd be happy to supply the $185,000 needed by the board to keep architects working on plans for the system, but asked the school board to see if the board can find the money in its operating budget surplus first.

"This is like a hole in the roof," Brennan told the board of selectmen Monday.

The $185,000 conditional appropriation is an advance intended to keep the architect working on drawings for the HVAC system until the town votes on $450,000 in capital bonded funds for the project at the Annual Town Meeting in May, according to Birck. If the $450,000 is approved by the voters, the school board will pay the $185,000 back to the town.

Brennan likened the money to a "bridge loan."

"There is a lot of time sensitivity here," he said.

According to Birck, the appropriation will also allow town to enter into an agreement with the architect, The S/L/A/M Collaborative of Glastonbury, sooner. The town is unable to sign an agreement with a contractor if there are not sufficient funds available to cover the work.

Birck told the selectmen that the schools "are living on borrowed time." S/L/A/M wants a contract, she said.

"(The official said) that's the way we do business, we need something in writing," said Birck.

If the town does not come up with the money, S/L/A/M will stop work when the current money runs out, said Birck.

A few-week delay could be critical to the HVAC project — the board fears that if the system is not replaced in the next year or so, the HVAC system will be operating with no service contract.

This has put the project on a tight timeline. According to Birck, the large equipment involved must be ordered by December. For that to happen, she said, the architect cannot stop work this spring to wait for the May meeting.

Last year, the schools obtained $200,000 to pay for the design of the high school's HVAC system. Since then, the project has proven to be both larger and more complicated than anticipated.

Some of the money, according to director of financial planning and operations Kenneth Post, was also spent on fees for the bonding process itself and to pay Turner Construction, which is managing the project.

On Monday, Birck told the selectmen the board of education has a contingency surplus and that the board has "the obligation to consider taking the $185,000 out of there."

If the school board is able to find the money in its own budget, the selectmen will not make the appropriation, said Brennan. If not, the measure will go before the board of finance on April 22.

Staff writer Frank MacEachern contributed to this story.