SACS plans for over-budget costs of Homestead High School renovations | Education

0
SACS plans for over-budget costs of Homestead High School renovations | Education

The most recent construction bids the district received at the end of the year turned out higher than expected.



FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WFFT) – Southwest Allen County Schools is working to find ways to lower costs and dedicate more money for the Homestead High School renovation project.

The most recent construction bids the district received at the end of the year turned out higher than expected, and this isn’t the first time SACS has seen costs balloon throughout its years-long high school expansion.

“Every meeting we’ve had, we’ve looked at doing additional value engineering to try to bring those costs down, but then once we actually received the bids in December, we knew,” said SACS Director of Finance Mark Snyder. “We knew prior it was probably coming, but we really didn’t know how much.”

Snyder says the district still doesn’t know exactly how far over-budget the project is, but they know something needs to be done.

“[We’re] trying to get more companies, contractors to bid on those various projects,” Snyder said. “So that is our hope to bring the cost down, but we do realize with inflation that we’ll need to look at some additional bonding in order to finish the high school project.”

The Homestead High School renovation and expansion project is now entering its fifth year, meaning construction crews have now spent more years in the building than many of its own students.

The project was originally expected to cost roughly $170 million.

Though that figure is climbing, district leaders say they don’t expect to put any extra strain on taxpayers.

Through additional bonds and lowering bids, they plan to see the project through.

“There have been delays, not as a result of financing, but as a result of labor and materials all stemming back from Covid,” Snyder said. “We still are in the middle of the project but nearing towards the end of it fortunately.”

Crews are finishing up Phase 3 of five at Homestead.

District leaders didn’t have a specific end-date for the project, but Synder says he expects the construction to be near-finished by the end of 2024.

Superintendent Park Ginder is already impressed with how far they’ve come since the project’s origin.

“Things are moving forward. We actually have a great number of classes in part of the new wing. Kids are excited about the new spaces. So are our teachers, so it’s a lot of fun to be in a new building. It’s sort of like Christmas at times,” Ginder said.

Have a story you want FOX 55 to cover or a news tip? Send an email to [email protected].

link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *