Select Board hears updated Neary school cost estimates; geothermal adds roughly $12 million to budget

Select Board members were briefed on an accelerated schedule for the Neary (NHERI) school project and told the board that a reconciled second cost estimate will be available to town officials within days to support a May 10 special town meeting warrant.

Why it matters: the Neary project is proceeding through the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) review process. Town staff and the building committee must submit reconciled cost estimates and schematic-design materials to meet MSBA deadlines that will determine the town’s potential state grant share and the formal project approval timeline.

Key points from the update: staff said two independent cost estimates — one from the project’s original outside estimator and one from the owner’s project manager (OPM) — will be reconciled this week; the reconciled figure will be provided to the town’s bond adviser to run debt-service projections. The building committee’s finance subcommittee is scheduled to review the new five-year town budget projection that incorporates the Neary debt, and the finance subcommittee will report to the full building committee and the Select Board in the coming days.

Officials cited schedule and deadline dates presented at the meeting: a reconciled cost estimate was expected Thursday; the MSBA needs budget support documentation by Feb. 15 and the architects’ schematic design by Feb. 25; MSBA is scheduled to vote on the project April 30 and the town’s special town meeting is scheduled for May 10.

Project-cost driver: meeting participants told the board that the design team has decided to use a geothermal system for HVAC and that the geothermal work increases the project’s cost estimate by roughly $12 million compared with an earlier estimate (the speaker noted the first estimate included a smaller geothermal figure of about $6 million). Meeting discussion acknowledged potential federal tax or incentive programs could reduce the net cost if available in future years, but staff cautioned not to assume such rebates in the town’s current estimates because program availability and eligibility are uncertain.

Next steps and public process: the building committee and finance subcommittee will meet this week and early next week to finalize numbers and present recommendations. The Select Board posted meetings to allow members to attend; staff said the reconciled estimate will be used to update the town five-year budget projection and to finalize debt-service numbers for the warrant and MSBA submission.

Ending: board members emphasized the importance of having accurate cost and schedule information for public meetings and said additional multi-year budget modeling may be necessary to show the town’s broader debt capacity beyond the initial five-year window.