School Building Project Estimated to Cost $13 to $16 Million More

The Secondary School Building Committee (SSBC) held its second public forum Thursday evening to explain why the school building project is over budget and how much more the town will need to complete the school the way it was originally designed. The range of additional funds will be $13 to $16 million.

The school building project is over budget because the original project estimate was too low, there was a change in market conditions and site challenges.

The new cost estimate is based on 90 percent complete construction documents. The range of additional cost to complete the project as originally designed is $13 to $16 million, which brings the total for the school building project from $107.8 to $120.8 or $123.8 million.

That number is still an estimate. The Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) will be available on March 11. According to a pamphlet handed out at the first public informational forum in February, "The GMP is the amount that the Construction Manager at-Risk guarantees the project construction cost will not exceed. The GMP includes the cost of work, plus contingency, the CM's General Conditions and Fee."

With the new estimated total for the project, the estimated tax increase, based on the average home value of $450,000, will be $155 to $190 per year.

Residents will be able to vote to approve the additional funds at Special Town Meeting on March 18 at 7 p.m. and Special Election on March 22.

If residents vote to approve the additional funds, the project will remain on schedule, items will not be removed from the budget, the MSBA will still reimburse the original amount planned and there will be no annual impact on the operating budget. The school will be built the way it was originally designed.

If residents decide not to approve the additional funds and vote against it, there could be up to a seven-month project delay at a cost greater than $400,000 per month, the project will not be constructed as it was originally designed and the following items will be removed from the budget:

• Athletic field team room building
• Audio visual equipment (projections screens, televisions, etc.)
• Auditorium lighting and stage equipment
• Motor for basketball hoops 
• District office (a district office will have to go elsewhere in town and space will have to be rented)
• Gym divider curtain (divides gym into separate instructional spaces)
• Plantings (partial)
• Rubber fitness flooring
• Rubber stair treads
• Tennis courts
• Traffic Light (at the end of the access road)
• Vinyl tile flooring
• Colored concrete
• Concrete seat walls
• Granite curbing
• Marker and track boards (white boards and bulletin boards)
• Unit Pavers (Pavilion)

Since the first public forum, additional items have been added to the list of items to be removed from the budget:

• Brick building facade
• Fixed auditorium seating (free-standing chairs will be in the auditorium)
• Sports fields
• Gymnasium bleachers
• Cooling (there will be no air conditioning)
• Window coverings
• Paving top coat for parking and driveway areas

According to a presentation handed out at the meeting, the SSBC recommends the restoration of these items to meet the project mission.

"We have a problem, we need to fix it, the time to fix it is right now," School Committee member Gerald Venezia said.

The next informational forum, when the GMP will be announced, is on March 14. Special Town Meeting is on March 18 and Special Election is March 22.