The School Building Committee plans to finish trimming the school project to get it under budget this week as it also awaits final information about potential savings on things like temporary classrooms and site work.
The current estimate for construction is $84.98 million, but the construction portion of the budget approved by residents in June is $76.01 million, meaning a total of almost $10 million needs to be cut or found from some other source. In its first two “value engineering” meetings, the SBC approved net reductions of just over $900,000.
The SBC meets on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room in a week full of meetings on the school project, including a multi-board meeting on Thursday, Oct. 18. On Tuesday, the Finance Committee will meet to discuss cash flow estimates and bond strategies, solar arrays for the school using capital expenditures vs. a power purchase agreement for the school’s solar array, and the use of debt stabilization funds.
At the October 10 SBC meeting, John Snell, chair of the Green Energy Committee, outlined a combination of construction incentives and energy credits for using green energy sources that could save $400,000–$1 million in the first year, with credits of $208,000–$444,000 annually over 20 years ($4.1 million to $8.9 million total).
The SBC last week also approved several more cost reductions from a list of “value engineering” items provided by architects. The cuts approved in two meetings thus far total $1.05 million:
- Reseeding rather than sodding playing fields — $141,836
- Not replacing some existing bookshelves, cabinets, interior doors and markerboards (5 items total) — $511,440
- Changing floor materials in the learning/dining commons and toilet rooms from porcelain and ceramic to linoleum and epoxy, respectively — $239,514
- Eliminating a sun shade/canopy and PV array for the new Reed gym link — $68,245
- Electrical and plumbing items — $90,000
However, the SBC also approved an additional expenditure of $150,000 for a slightly redesigned learning commons/media center/third grade wing, so the net savings thus far are $901,035.
Still undetermined as far as exact dollar amounts are potential savings on temporary classrooms that were budgeted at $3.68 million, photovoltaic direct costs budgeted at $3 million, auditorium work (some of which might be paid for with other funds since that space is also used for Town Meetings), and some portion of the site work (roads and paths, curbs, drainage, landscaping, etc.). A total of $4.98 million could be cut if the only site work done is code-mandated work and repairs after construction.
Finding affordable temporary classrooms (which come with big expenses in addition to their leasing and moving costs) is difficult. “Locally there’s high demand. We have a lot of schools in the area whose enrollment is bursting,” Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall said. School officials even looked at the possibility of busing Lincoln School children to the existing modular classrooms at Hanscom to save on the cost of moving and installing modular classrooms on Ballfield Road, but then every Lincoln School parent would need a pass to get onto the Air Force base, and Hanscom probably has plans for the modular classroom site anyway.
Now that it’s combed through the value-engineering list for items with relatively low dollar values, the SBC will have to discuss cutting some of the bigger-ticket line items. These include:
- Eliminating all work in the auditorium except code upgrades, sprinklers and HVAC — $1.59 million
- Eliminating the media center wing and making the learning/dining commons space also accommodate the media center — $1.26 million
- Eliminating the link to the Reed gym — $1.17 million
- Keeping preK in the main Hartwell building — $1.01 million
- Eliminating the third-grade hub space — $210,000
Though not a true savings, officials could also move the $1.06 million cost for furniture and equipment out of the construction budget and into the school’s operating budget.
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