San Bernardino County shifts $396,247 in federal relief savings to Eisenhower High baseball field project in Rialto Unified
Supervisors approved contract amendments Aug. 4 that move unspent American Rescue Plan Act money from a Rialto High School lighting project to cover unforeseen electrical work at Eisenhower High School.
San Bernardino County supervisors on Aug. 4 approved moving $396,247 in federal pandemic relief money between two Rialto Unified School District baseball field projects.
The action was Item 38 (file 14592) on the consent calendar, which passed 4-0. Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. moved approval and Supervisor Jesse Armendarez seconded. Supervisor Curt Hagman was absent.
What changed
The county funds both projects with American Rescue Plan Act money under contracts with the school district, according to a County Administrative Office staff report.
The amendment to Contract No. 23-1064 lowers the cap for the Rialto High School Baseball Field Lighting Project from $1,200,000 to $803,753.
The amendment to Contract No. 23-1063 raises the cap for the Eisenhower High School Baseball Field Improvement Project by the same amount, from $1,500,000 to $1,896,247.
Both contracts still run through Dec. 31, 2026. The board also approved a matching budget adjustment for fiscal 2026-27, an action that required four votes.
Why the money moved
The staff report says the Rialto High project came in $396,247 under budget as it neared completion. That project paid for a field lighting system and related accessibility upgrades.
At Eisenhower High, the original $1.5 million covered lighting, bleachers, a dugout, a taller backstop, a scoreboard and accessibility work, the report says.
During construction there, Southern California Edison identified electrical improvements that had not been anticipated, according to the report. The district had to bring in another contractor for an electrical panel, and the project's cost rose.
The Eisenhower amendment also pushes back the date by which project costs must be obligated. It moves 291 days, to March 18, 2026, from May 31, 2025.
The report says the Fifth District supervisor's office recommended the amendments and that the changes are eligible under U.S. Treasury guidelines.
Background
The county's direct allocation under the federal act was $423.5 million, the staff report says. The board adopted a spending plan for the money in June 2021 and amended it that August.
The two Rialto Unified contracts were signed Aug. 31, 2023, and ratified by the board the following month. A first amendment, approved in April 2025, extended an earlier obligation deadline because the district had encountered delays awarding construction contracts, according to the report.
Staff wrote that both fields were expected to be finished by mid-summer 2026, ahead of the Dec. 31, 2026, deadline for completing projects paid for with the federal money.
The report says the item does not use discretionary general fund money.