The Dunkirk Board of Education approved a $7 million capital fund for the school district last week.

It won’t get put in place unless district voters approve it at the May 16 budget vote.

The fund is for the “acquisition, construction, reconstruction, expansion, renovation, alteration, improvement of buildings, facilities, sites and real property by the district,” according to the resolution passed by the board.

It can also be used for the district’s share of Erie2BOCES capital projects.

The “probable term” of the fund is 10 years, the resolution states.

Most of the initial money for it will come from a $3,675,770 unemployment reserve fund transfer.

That will take that fund down to $100,000, a number the board thinks is “a more appropriate figure going forward, given the purposes for which” it was created.

A repair reserve fund, totaling $302,404, will also get diverted into the new fund.

The repair reserve line will get terminated after it is zeroed out.

The capital reserve fund was created on the advice of Richard Timbs, the district’s financial adviser.

During his annual presentation in January, Timbs said the district had about $5 million in capital reserves, but those will be depleted in the next few years.

However, the final decision on the new fund will be up to Dunkirk school district voters in May.