School Committee exploring ways to reign in cost of new high school

Date: 11/9/2010

Nov. 8, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

WILBRAHAM -- The Hampden-Wilbraham School Committee (HWSC) will continue for look for ways to save both the state and local taxpayers money as the Minnechaug Regional High School building project continues to move forward.

Hampden-Wilbraham Regional Schools Superintendent M. Martin O'Shea and HWSC President Peter Salerno announced on Oct. 26 that the committee will be exploring new options for financing the project.

"The hope is to take advantage of low interest rates in what is a very advantageous borrowing market right now," O'Shea said. "Maybe within a few weeks we'll have a stronger idea of how we will finance the project. It's clearly a great climate for us right now."

O'Shea added that keeping the burden to the taxpayers at a minimum has been a priority of everyone involved in the planning of the project from day one and cooperation between town committees has been crucial.

"It really was a driving force for this project since day one and it continues to be," O'Shea said. "It's very encouraging how the school committee and the school building committee has been able to work with both towns, their board of selectmen and other committees to ensure that."

Those involved in the Minnechaug project have already done well in terms of saving money by taking advantage of the economic climate, according to O'Shea.

The original approved budget for the project was $82,271,129. That figure was based upon contributions from the towns of Wilbraham and Hampden and a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The towns would be responsible for $34,864,724 of that budget.

However, Fontaine Bros. was awarded the construction contract at the July 27th school committee meeting with a bid of $53,618,500 and with that bid, the total project cost was expected to be $64,996,284, including the school, new district offices and a new pool.

The MSBA is projected to be responsible for $37,022,742, or 61.73 percent of the cost of the main school building, leaving the towns to pay the remaining $22, 952,541.

With those projections, the total savings between the approved amount of spending and the actual amount of spending for the towns is just shy of $12 million.

"When the project went out to bid, it was put out when a lot of builders were out of work. Now we're trying to finance when interest rates are low," O'Shea said. "We are doing everything we can to take advantage of favorable economic conditions."

O'Shea cautioned that there is no guarantee that the current projected costs will stay where they are, but said the towns are in very good shape to date.

"Many people asked when we first got started on this project, 'How much is the building going to cost?'" O'Shea said. "You never really know the cost until the final nail is driven in, but right now, it looks like there will be a significant savings to the state and to the local taxpayers."

The groundbreaking new Minnechaug took place in early September and is expected to be completed in time for the start of classes in the fall of 2012.