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The Lafourche Parish School Board extended its bus leasing and maintenance contract with B&L Transportation, Inc., including provisions to add air conditioning and cameras, last Wednesday with a unanimous vote.
The 10-year extension will cost the board the same amount as the previous contract, $958 per bus per month. LPSB utilizes anywhere from 120 to 130 buses during the school year, and the annual price will hover around $1.2 million, said Floyd Benoit, LPSB communications specialist.
“It’s a fair price,” said Billy Schwertz, owner of B&L Transportation. “There is a replacement schedule, but all the buses that are in service right now, they are getting at the point where we don’t have a note, so we can keep running them at the same price, and that saves the board money.”
Schwertz said his company would equip 10 percent of the buses each year with air conditioning, free of charge, starting with the buses constructed in 2005 or later.
“From our standpoint, it’s mostly labor installing it, and [we decided] we’ll provide that if they gave us the security for 10 years,” Schwertz said.
Rev. Richmond Boyd, chairperson of the transportation committee, said extending the contract for the same price was an easy decision because “the bureaucrats in Baton Rouge keep cutting our budget.”
Also included in the contract is the installation of cameras, which will be installed with additional monthly rates that must be approved by the board when the time arises.
The Lafourche Parish School Board extended its contract with B&L Transportation Inc., last week for another 10 years. The contract calls for the board to pay $958 per bus per month, and B&L to begin installing air conditioners. FILE PHOTO
