The Needham Finance Committee on Dec. 3 agreed to use the cost figure that the design team submits in the Project Service Report (PSR) as the basis for the committee’s tax‑impact projections and budget analysis. Speaker 2 said the committee needs a fixed number to begin modeling tax effects, and committee members set a schedule to revisit the estimates once schematic design yields a single plan.

Speaker 1 told the committee that schematic design is the stage when designers and the OPM consultant will consolidate alternatives and produce a single plan that can be sent to cost estimators. “If you want a number today, I would take the average of these two,” Speaker 1 said, adding that a more formal cost estimate will be delivered in May and that the MSBA schematic submission will follow in mid‑June.

The committee heard that the current numbers are preliminary and based on cost per square foot; Speaker 3 called them a “very broad brush stroke” that will be refined during schematic design and by the construction manager at risk (CMR) once on board. The committee asked town staff to run projection work in January and early February using the PSR number so the Finance Committee can present clear comparisons of tax impact and trade‑offs ahead of Town Meeting.

The meeting closed with a commitment to monthly check‑ins: the design team will return on Jan. 21 for a budget meeting update, and the committee will schedule a follow‑up in February. No formal votes on project scope were taken at the meeting.

The next procedural milestone the committee flagged is the May schematic‑design cost estimate and the mid‑June MSBA submission that will form the basis for the Project Scope and Budget Agreement.