By Margaret Voelzke
Rebuilding Lexington’s Waddell Elementary School will cost about $1.6 million more than city officials planned, the project’s architect estimates.
The school board got the news at its Nov. 12 meeting.
But Superintendent Dan Lyons says he expected the estimate to come in over the $10 million target budget. He also expects that the final figure will go down.
“I am hoping for at least a 10 percent reduction by the time we get our full set of plans in January,” Lyons said.
Estimates are calculated using the most expensive materials available, he said. They usually go down because officials choose cheaper options.
Lyons said school planners hope to save money on the final design of the heating and air conditioning system. Cheaper materials for roofing might also be considered. If an application for a storm-water damage grant is approved, the city could reap an additional $200,000.
So far, City Council has approved about $500,000 to handle design of the building. The city plans to get the rest of the funding from a capital improvement loan.
City Council and the school board are working on a two-part plan to pay off the loan. The first would be an increase in city residents’ property tax. The council and board will work on a city budget that includes the proposed tax hike. Council would adopt the new budget in May. It would take effect July 1.
While city residents would see the tax increase, families living outside the city who send a child to Waddell or Lylburn Downing Middle School would probably see a tuition increase, with $400 of their annual tuition payment going to help pay off the construction loan.
Elrod said that, too, would likely take effect in 2014.
Waddell Principal Lisa Clark expects the design and materials decisions made for the new building to be the result of collaboration.
“I would imagine that Dr. Lyons and myself and the school board would work together to find the best places to make those cost-effective decisions,” Clark said.
Lyons said the architect’s estimate has not forced school officials to change anything substantial in the plan.
“The most important thing is that we know what we want the building to look like and we know the number of classrooms and where they are going to be located and other aspects of the building,” he said.
Clark explained that a cost estimate is different from a concrete budget, and changes frequently.
“The way they get [the estimate] is the architectural firm takes the rough drawings of the plans to a company that’s called a cost estimator, and they look at that and say according to what you gave us … this is what we estimate your cost to be,” she said.
The Waddell Elementary building is almost 100 years old and is the former Lexington High School. The building has mold, and it does not comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act’s standards for students with disabilities.
Teachers frequently complain that a leaky roof damages teaching materials, and some classrooms are not large enough to accommodate the number of students in them.
Lyons said the cost of repairing the building over time would be similar to constructing a new one, so the school board recommended tearing down the old building.
Elrod said there has been little resistance so far to the planned property tax hike and tuition increase to pay for the new construction.
“There will be people that contribute in a way that they haven’t contributed,” Elrod said. “Most people I’ve talked to are very understanding.”
Parents like Waddell PTA Interim President Jennifer Young are looking forward to the new facility.
“I am very excited, very excited about the ground breaking,” said Young, “Waddell has a long history here in the community.”
A new cost estimate that includes the changes in materials will be released in January. Officials are hoping that will be the final estimate before the project is sent out to contractors for bids.
School officials hope to break ground on the new building in summer 2014. In order to reduce disruption to students and faculty, the new building will be erected alongside the old building in an adjacent field. Once enough new classrooms have been completed, students and faculty will move into the new facility, and all but the original façade of the old building will be demolished.
For teachers like Janice Burguieres, the new building will mirror Waddell’s commitment to learning.
“When you want to send a message that you take education seriously, you want a building that reflects that,” Burguieres said in an interview last month. “And I think in the last several years the building really hasn’t reflected the depth of our commitment to the education of the children in this community.”