The new high school will cost $2.22 million more than expected,
pushing the school district facilities budget almost $15 million in
debt, staff said.
Gilroy – The new high school will cost $2.22 million more than expected, pushing the school district facilities budget almost $15 million in debt, staff said.
Rising construction and materials costs have raised the estimated price tag for Christopher High School by $2.22 million, said Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent of administrative services. To counteract a burgeoning facilities debt – which covers construction and repairs and is now estimated at $14.93 million – the district might need to delay installing high school athletic fields or furnishing rooms, he added.
“You may have to look at – well, we’re not going to put in most of the athletic fields,” he said. “There’s things that you can do. You may shell out some classrooms. In other words, you’ve got the walls and everything but you don’t finish the interiors of the classrooms until you need them.”
School district trustees took the information, the result of March 15 calculations by Gilbane, the district’s preconstruction company, and verified by an architectural firm hired by the district and district staff, in stride. The cost of Christopher, slated to open in 2009 at a site off Day Road in northwest section of the city has tripled since its original estimate from about $39 million to more than $100 million because of across- the-board price increases of materials, such as steel, copper and concrete. The increased costs come despite district attempts to rein in costs through less-expensive construction materials.
However, the district could save money if bids for the construction phase of the project come in lower than the district has estimated, Brinkman said. The district will bid out construction this summer so that the school can break ground this fall.
Another way the district could close the facilities budget gap is through voluntary contributions from housing developers. The school district, in conjunction with the city, has been pressuring developers since March to raise the fee they contribute to the school district from $2.63 to $6.61 per square foot built.
The fee hike could generate more than $20 million during the next eight years at estimated building rates, district data showed. However, developers have been slow to organize and reluctant to support a voluntary fee hike. Recently, the three parties brought in a moderator to help move the process forward.
The future health of the facilities budget is uncertain and could force the district to make difficult cuts on building projects, Brinkman said. What’s not know is how factors such as unabating increases in construction and materials costs will affect the budget.
“Will it go up further,” Brinkman said. “Possible … our decisions could become a lot simpler if it continues to go up because I’ve always felt that decisions in life are easier when things get extreme than when you’re in more of an atmosphere of options.”
District staff plan to revise the estimate again with Gilbane and the architectural firm and present the new numbers either at tonight’s meeting or on Aug. 2. This revision could result in even higher costs for the new high school, Brinkman said.
“The numbers for Christopher High are by no means finalized,” he said. “We’re still working on them.”
