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The numbers on our mailer have just been updated by the Finance Committee*, and the annual tax impact is even worse! To pay off a debt of over $42 million over the next 20 years, the average homeowner will pay nearly $500 per year ($477.88 in 2024 for a home value of $514,911). Renovating our existing structures, while also building modest additions, would cost significantly less.
- The Finance Committee notes in its report* that this is “the largest project that the Town has ever considered”. This is a huge amount of money for a project that goes against our own Community Development Plan, would result in the largest PK-6 school in Essex County, would forever change our vibrant downtown, and that we’ve already voted down last spring.
*Finance Committee’s Annual Report for the Town Meeting, May 8, 2018
- Brian Blake, Superintendent of Ipswich Public Schools recently confirmed that our transportation company estimates a need for 3-4 additional bus routes to ensure bus rides of 30 minutes or less. At $59,000 per route per year, that is an extra $177,000 to $236,000 per year just in buses.
- Spending $70 million on a building will negatively impact the appetite for future overrides. Should we spend money on retaining our teachers and funding our curriculum or brick and mortar? READ: Rowley faces override dilemma
We Can Do Better – For Up To $22 Million Less
According to the town’s own numbers, a base addition and renovation of both schools would cost approximately $22 million less than the currently proposed combined elementary school of Article #5.
In March of 2016, several months before the School Committee announced its preference for a single combined school, Perkins Eastman (our architect) asked PM&C (its estimator) the cost of renovation for both Doyon and Winthrop schools, including a 8,678 square foot addition to Doyon (for gym, library, cafeteria, music and kitchen, per the chairman of the School Building Committee) and a 2,968 square foot addition to Winthrop.
The total estimate for both schools was $25,815,658.* Adjusted for 5% inflation, the renovations of and modest additions to our existing neighborhood schools would cost approximately $35M to build (assuming reasonable start dates of 2022 and 2025 for Winthrop and Doyon, respectively).
* Click for our architect’s renovation estimates (begins on page 14, entitled “Renovations and Addition”) and detailed analysis.
The Owner’s Project Manager (Paul Queeney, PE, MCPPO, FMP) revealed on February 16, 2018 that the Doyon 775-student combined school would cost $57,586,580** with a start date of 2019 (for construction costs alone—not the total project cost of $69M which includes administrative and planning costs). $57M-$35M. That’s a difference of $22 million dollars when comparing construction costs.
Extremely large renovations are not required by the MSBA to obtain approval and/or reimbursement because renovation/additions to schools are not required to meet a certain square footage. Therefore, they do not have to be extraordinarily expensive. Physical space standards and guidelines were developed by the MSBA for new construction, and should not be used to assess educational adequacy of existing schools if those schools met the standards and guidelines that prevailed at the time of construction. Rather, the MSBA has the discretion to determine square footage for proposed renovation projects on a case-by-case basis. 963 CMR 2.06(4)(b); 963 CMR 2.08(3).
The MSBA works creatively with the district and its educators to develop an educational plan suitable for improving buildings, and sizes of additions can vary based on education plans. Renovations are also often awarded higher MSBA reimbursement rates than new construction.
Is this the Mercedes option? No. But it serves our needs, adds square footage and upgrades our existing facilities while preserving our right-sized learning environments and providing accessible facilities to all students.
