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Marion County schools outline progress on four sales-tax-funded construction projects
Summary
District staff updated the capital outlay surtax oversight committee on four sales-tax-funded projects — East Marion and Osceola classroom work, a Bellevue Santos Elementary replacement and an emergency Bellevue Middle HVAC design — and agreed to provide detailed cost scorecards on request.
District staff on Tuesday gave committee members a status update on four projects funded by the Marion County capital outlay sales tax, including planning and design work and an appeal from members for clearer cost scorecards.
Angela Usher, the district’s senior executive director of operations, said the four approved projects are an East Marion Elementary classroom project, a classroom renovation at Osceola Middle School, a replacement for Bellevue Santos Elementary and an emergency HVAC design upgrade at Bellevue Middle School.
"At East Marion Elementary School, we have an architect, Monarch Design Group. The contractor has received phase 2 drawings," the district’s facilities director, identified in the meeting as Miss Bumbach, said. She told the committee subcontractors have walked the site and bid packages are being prepared with construction anticipated next summer.
Bumbach said the Bellevue Santos replacement will reuse the prototype the district used for two recently opened elementary schools. Surveying and demolition planning are underway; the district must file a Castaldi report with the Department of Education before demolishing older buildings. Her office does not have a GMP (guaranteed maximum price) for the Bellevue replacement yet.
"We just have kicked them all off," Bumbach said of the four projects. "That project is not, you know, anticipated to be done until 2028."
On the Bellevue Middle HVAC work, Bumbach said the board allocated $1,000,000 from sales-tax funding for design to fast-track engineering work; construction funding is expected to come from next year’s millage budget.
A committee member asked for a simple project scorecard showing design estimates, contract award dates, contract amounts and actual completion dates. Bumbach agreed to provide a breakdown showing construction, demolition, furniture and equipment costs and to capture lessons learned from recently completed schools.
Committee discussion also covered whether the district compiles cost-per-square-foot figures and compares general-conditions costs among contractors. Staff said GMPs reflect programmatic differences between schools but agreed to provide per-project square-foot cost information on request.
The committee approved the meeting minutes from the prior session by voice vote and did not take additional formal actions on the projects during the meeting.
The district said it will return with more detailed cost breakdowns and a scorecard-style summary for committee review.
