The Lowell City Council voted to refer a $39,850,848 amendment to the Lowell High School loan order to a public hearing on Dec. 2, 2025. City staff and a school building committee member described the increase as a second amendment to a long-running Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA)-funded project and said the new borrowing is tied to slab and foundation work and contingencies for Coburn Hall.

Kendrick Delorbe, a member of the school building committee and a Lowell High School graduate, urged the council to move forward and trust the project team, saying residents approved the project and that some furnishing budgets had already been removed. The CFO, identified in the meeting as Baldwin, said the city previously amended the original loan order in March 2022 related to COVID-era supply-chain issues and that this is a separate amendment focused on recent work discussed in June.

City officials said the loan-order amendment would result in a baseline 1.6% tax levy increase tied specifically to this component when bonds are issued and the city’s borrowing hits the tax roll. The CFO also said the city recently issued $25 million in bonds for the project and that additional borrowing will be layered onto the levy as cash is spent.

Councilors pressed administration on whether the amendment anticipates work on the Coburn Hall building; staff said the Coburn Hall scope was included in burn-rate and contingency calculations but that renovation work can uncover unforeseen items. The city manager said he has spoken with the delegation but added that additional state assistance appears unlikely at present.

The loan order’s underlying authorization was described in the meeting as $343,399,220 with a March 2022 amendment of $38,568,511, and tonight’s addition was said to push the project toward roughly $420 million in total authorizations. The council’s referral sends the amendment to the December public hearing, where the council will take a final vote.