
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 15, 1995                   TAG: 9504170028
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL PROJECT BIDS A LOT HIGHER THAN ANTICIPATED

Talk about sticker shock. The low bids to build two new elementary school art and music classrooms came in at nearly twice the original cost estimates, school officials learned this week. As a result, it's not just back to the drawing board but probably back to the city treasury.

"I think we're going to have to ask the city for assistance on this one," Superintendent Michael Wright told the School Board on Thursday. "The question is, how much?"

School Board architect Larry Martin blamed a big jump in the cost of bricks and mortar - up 50 percent or 60 percent from last year - for what school officials regarded as eye-popping price tags. The board had set aside approximately $96,000 from its current budget for the 1,600-square-foot addition at McHarg Elementary School. The low bid for that project was $184,200.

Another $101,000 was budgeted for a nearly identical expansion at Belle Heth Elementary School. The low bid there was $182,200. Shelor Construction Company submitted both low bids.

A glut of work has created a bidder's market, Martin explained. School officials, Martin and the contractor plan to put their heads together next week to get the total cost of the projects down to the $300,000 range, but Wright said the huge difference between the original estimates and the bids will require rebidding the contracts.

"We need to do it as soon as possible," Martin advised. School officials had hoped to begin construction at both schools this spring, so the additions could be ready for fall classes.

Wright also recommended paring back the number of roof replacement projects the board had put out to bid and putting the savings back into the two classroom additions.

There was more glum news on another financial front. The board has to trim some $2.1 million from next year's budget, and it has set a work session for next week to review priorities.

Wright said after the meeting that additional school expansion projects could be the first victims. The School Board hopes to include them later in a proposed bond issue that also would fund other city projects.

City Council increased the School Board's operating budget by 0.5 percent over this year's, provided enough money to pay for 3 percent raises and threw in another $50,000 to help pay for two new teaching positions. All told, the School Board got just over $4 million from the city for 1995-96, nearly $268,000 more than it got this year to run the schools.

Board members seemed inclined to try to salvage as much of that as possible for staff salary increases. Teachers had hoped for the 3.9 percent raises included in Wright's original budget. Carter Effler asked Wright to recalculate the raises using a revised salary scale and applying the additional money from the city.

But that plan could leave the board with no money for other needs, Guy Wohlford pointed out. "That means everything else in this document drops," he said.

The board plans to hash out budget changes Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the School Administration Building.

by CNB