Facility committee trims middle-school fence cost, reviews $5.3 million in project savings and maintenance requests

The Facility Committee on Sept. 4 reviewed a mid-project reconciliation for the new middle school, approved work to replace part of the site fence at an owner-funded cost of about $35,000 and discussed a slate of capital maintenance requests estimated at roughly $5.3 million in available funds if projects closed today.

Committee members heard that construction-manager contingency and owner contingency together total a little over $3.1 million in the contract; staff updated projected middle-school savings to $3.7 million and identified an additional $1.3 million tied to unfinished high‑school or district work, producing the $5.3 million figure. Rebecca, a project staff member, said the update reflects estimated savings in HVAC, electrical and plumbing contracts and is “our best effort to give you the most complete picture we can at this point.”

Why it matters: the updated savings picture feeds decisions about next summer’s high‑school campus work and the district’s effort to lower its property tax levy. Administrators told the committee the budget committee is exploring a combination of refinancing and using some of these project savings to reduce the levy from an initial projection of 10.4 percent toward a 6 percent target. Staff also reported a $1 million check received from the IRS under an Inflation Reduction Act rebate for the Heritage project.

On the new…