With just days remaining to spend the last of its Lewis Elementary lease-purchase funds, Excelsior Springs School District officials finalized a creative list of capital projects to avoid a $377,000 arbitrage penalty – a financial hit that would have provided nothing in return.The final push came after bids for the high school parking lot came in dramatically lower than expected, forcing administrators to scramble for additional eligible expenses. The low bid, submitted by Byrne & Jones Construction, was $455,807 – nearly half the originally estimated $800,000 cost.“We thought we had a plan because the high school parking lot we thought would be 1.1 million and we would be good,” said Superintendent Dr. Jaret Tomlinson. “Well, when you go out to bid and it comes in at half of what everyone told you it’s going to cost, all of a sudden, now I’ve got to find three or four hundred thousand dollars ‘worth of projects to spend and have it...