Final price tag on school expected next month (04/09/08)

South Adams School Board members won't know the exact price tag of the new elementary and middle school under construction until next month at the earliest.

Though the board set a $25 million limit on borrowing for the new school and renovations at South Adams High School and hired Performance Services of Indianapolis to oversee the design/build process based upon an estimated price of $20.9 million, designs for the new building are still being tweaked and could have an impact on the final cost.

"We are intending to have the design complete on the 21st of April," Steve Bloom of Performance Services told the board Tuesday night. "That $20.9 million figure is essentially a best-guess estimate at the time."

After the design is complete, there will be a two-week bidding process for contractors interested in bidding, followed by a review of the bids by Performance Services, South Adams superintendent Cathy Egolf, and board president Tony Mellencamp.

"There's a misconception out there," said board member Arlene Amstutz. "A lot of (people) think it's not going to cost a penny more than $20,900,000."

The $25 million in borrowing for the projects came in the form of a general obligation bond issue of about $2 million and a construction bond issue of about $23 million.

School board attorney Jim Beitler explained that a portion of the money borrowed - about $1.4 million - will actually be used to make the first payment to bond-holders during the construction phase. "The bond-holders aren't going to wait a year and a half for payment on their bonds," he said.

After contracts are awarded and the cost of the new kindergarten through grade eight facility is finally nailed down, board members can look at how much is available for renovation work at the high school.

"We said this (project) would include the new school and the work at the high school," said Mellencamp. "Now the concern is that we'll renege in some fashion."

"We sold $25 million in bonds," responded Beitler.

"And the DLGF (Indiana Department of Local Government Finance) said that's all we could borrow," added Egolf. "What we'd like is to get everything done for $25 million or less. ... We are going to do everything we can, but we're not going to borrow more."

Renovation work at the high school has been estimated to cost between $2.5 million and $3 million, though that cost could be reduced if work is phased in over time.

In a related matter, the board agreed to appropriate $68,782, which it had received from the school building corporation for the land on which the new school is being constructed, for the construction project.

In other business, the South Adams board:

•Directed Performance Services to make new timing and scoring equipment a higher priority when it reviews bids for work on renovations to the high school swimming pool.

•Accepted Doug Biel's resignation as girls' varsity basketball coach.

•Approved William Grandlinard as a volunteer baseball coach working with the junior varsity this spring.

•Noted that there will be discussion of student-related board policies at the board's May meeting. Those policies may include such issues as random drug testing.[[In-content Ad]]