Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994 TAG: 9402050173
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But that has not stopped the School Board from continuing to underestimate the cost of school construction projects, according to one county supervisor. Vinton District Supervisor Harry Nickens fears the latest mistake - on the price for converting the Roanoke County Occupational School to administration offices - could cost School Board members and staff insist they are sticking to the budget they initially proposed - yet nobody seems to agree on what that budget was. the county $600,000 more than expected.
"It's most disturbing for me," he said, because if projects run over budget, it is the supervisors who have to raise the taxes to cover them.
"So when we commit to a project, we need to know the cost," he said.
The Board of Supervisors has asked the School Board to attend a joint meeting Tuesday to talk about the problem. Supervisors decided they needed more information after speaking with the architect and touring the occupational school building Jan. 25.
School administrators need to move their offices because they do not have enough space. They are crammed into three buildings, with a total of 37,000 square feet. The occupational school building, vacated last year when its students were mainstreamed, has 53,000 square feet.
School Board members and staff insist they are sticking to the budget they initially proposed - yet nobody seems to agree on what that budget was.
Nickens placed the figure at $370,000, with $70,000 of that earmarked for carpet.
Richard "Jyke" Jones Jr., the architect hired for the project, said he was given a budget of $425,000 - not including carpet.
School administration officials - including Superintendent Bayes Wilson and School Board Chairman Frank Thomas - say they were given $550,000 to spend. That is $400,000 for construction, plus $150,000 for telephone and computer installation.
Yet documents provided by the county show only $250,000 was set aside for construction in 1992. Another $150,000 - for telephones and computers - brought the total to $400,000.
And the actual cost to renovate the building?
That could be as high as $1 million, Jones said.
Who is right?
Thomas said the county erred when it included $150,000 in telephone and computer funds in the $400,000 budget. He believes that money was always supposed to be separate.
The rest of the discrepancy, he said, stems from a disagreement over whether the building needs a new heating and air conditioning system - which could cost as much as $400,000. The current system is more than 20 years old.
Wilson said the system worked fine when the county closed the school last year, and he saw no need to replace it.
Perhaps not now, but eventually it will have to be replaced, Nickens said. And he wants to know where the money will come from.
"It would be over a period of years," Wilson said. "There are several rooftop units. If we go in there with the present equipment, those would just have to be replaced when they wear out."
Thomas said he hopes the system can be replaced now, through a contract with Johnson Controls, a company that has upgraded heating and air conditioning systems at several county schools. The new equipment - which is more efficient - is supposed to pay for itself with the money saved through lower utility bills.
Johnson Controls is studying the occupational school building to see how much new equipment would be needed and how long it would take to recover its cost through utility savings, Thomas said.
As for the rest of the project, he said he is committed to staying within the $550,000 budget.
If Thomas can do that, said Nickens, he will applaud.
Nickens might not want to start clapping yet.
Homer Duff, director of facilities and operations for the county school system, said the initial $550,000 estimate will not come close to covering everything that should be done to convert the building.
"I would say, yes, we should have budgeted $1 million, or more than $1 million," he said. "You see, we had to put the number in before we did the detailed planning."
Still, school administrators intend to do what they can with the money they have, Duff said.
According to Jones, school administrators may get into the building on the budget they have set. But Homer Duff, director of facilities and operations, said the initial $550,000 estimate will not come close to covering everything that should be done to convert the building. they are going to have to leave out some of the changes they want to make.
He said he gave the School Board "a shopping list" of items and their price tags so that they could decide what to leave in and what to leave out.
The total project would include modifying the lighting system, subdividing large classrooms into smaller offices, upgrading the electrical system to accommodate new computers, upgrading the heating and cooling system, adding more parking space and installing interior carpet and wall coverings, Jones said.
"They are now trying to determine what they can live without," Jones said.
"My concern is that they not take away from the instructional program at Roanoke schools, and that they not come back to the Board of Supervisors and ask for a bailout because they have underestimated what it would cost them to get into that building," Nickens said.
Thomas admits the School Board has sometimes underbudgeted for projects. But that is because it does not factor in the cost of inflation when it makes budget requests - requests that are often made several years before construction begins.
"In three or four years, the cost of construction goes up," he said.
Thomas said the School Board saves the county money, however, by doing its estimating in-house. Sometimes, local architects donate their services.
"We do not go out and pay the cost of an architect or an engineer to give us an accurate figure," he said. "I feel like Mr. Duff can be just as accurate."
As for the occupational school building, Thomas insists the original estimate is still good.
"We would be able to do all of the things we would want to do" with $550,000, he said. "Of course, you can always continue to upgrade."
They could also continue to look for another site, Nickens said. And that is just what he will propose if this one looks like it is going to cost too much.
by CNB