BET approves $6 million interim for Central Middle School after unanticipated fire-suppression costs

The Board of Estimate and Taxation's budget committee voted to approve a $6,000,000 interim appropriation for the Central Middle School project after hearing that lower-than-expected water pressure forced the addition of an on-site fire pump house and tanks and depleted the owner's contingency.

Joe Rossetti, chair of the Central Middle School building committee, told the BET that the town received updated water-flow testing from Aquarion during shop drawing review and discovered flow closer to 400 gallons per minute — roughly half the amount designers had used. "We therefore had to now have to build a facility, a pump house, and tanks that have water on-site," Rossetti said, identifying the resulting fire‑suppression and alarm work as a major unanticipated cost. He said the specific fire‑system package and related items total about…