THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502020397
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
The Currituck County Board of Commissioners will have to find additional money - and soon - to build a new high school, if it wants to keep its commitment to quality education, according to a letter sent Wednesday to the chairman.
The letter from the Currituck Board of Education, outlining its needs and the urgency, was drafted after a three-hour meeting Tuesday evening with county commissioners at Knapp Junior High School.
It was requested by Commissioner Eldon Miller Jr. after the two boards failed to resolve the disparity between higher construction costs for a new high school and the amount budgeted for the project.
``Most people recognize the new high school must be built to relieve overcrowding at Moyock Elementary School and the existing high school,'' said school board Chairwoman Mary Ellen Maxwell, reading from a prepared statement Tuesday evening.
``Is the Board of Commissioners willing to earmark an additional $2.5 million as requested by the Board of Education and the Facility Review Committee to ensure the scope of the project is maintained and an adequate facility constructed?''
After a lengthy discussion on various aspects of the new school and the county's overall schools construction plan, Board of Commissioners Chairman Ernie Bowden told Maxwell, ``The answer to that question . . . is no.''
Commissioners said it was important to follow the outline of a $16 million schools construction bond referendum approved by voters in November 1993.
``I don't see how we, as the Board of Commissioners, can do anything less than what the people who voted told us to do in the referendum,'' Bowden said.
That electorate-approved schedule designated $12.2 million in bond money for a new high school next to the existing facility in Barco. The remainder would be used to renovate nearby Central Elementary School and build a new elementary school in Jarvisburg.
Since that referendum, which is expected to raise ad valorem taxes by about 9 cents, the cost to build schools has risen dramatically, making it difficult to fund all three projects within budget.
``It's shocking what we're seeing,'' said Bill Hargrove, president of HBA Architecture & Interior Design in Virginia Beach, designers of the new Barco school.
Hargrove and chief architect C. Michael Ross explained that an oversaturated construction market, particularly in the Hampton Roads and eastern North Carolina areas, has led contractors to bid at least $20 per square foot more than just a few months ago.
Construction prices began to take off in November, the same month Currituck school officials put the new high school out for bid, they said. The county expected to pay $11.9 million, but the lowest bidder in the multiprime contract asked for $3.7 million more.
Since receiving the bids in December, the school board and its Facilities Review Committee have worked with Ross to reduce costs by about $1.6 million without sacrificing programs or space at the facility, designed to hold more than 1,100 students.
But the 159,455-square-foot building - already smaller than originally planned - remains more than $2 million over budget.
And time is running out if the new school still plans to open its doors by fall 1996. At that time, the existing high school will become a junior high, and Knapp Junior High will be converted to an elementary school.
The county has until Feb. 17 to accept the base bid, or Currituck officials may be forced to rebid the project, Ross said.
That could lead to an even bigger discrepancy between bids and budget if current market conditions remain.
``Nobody can predict where it's going in the near future, but it's a safe bet nobody sees it going down,'' Hargrove said.
Given current trends, school officials said additional funding may be needed to build the Jarvisburg school, budgeted to cost about $4 million.
That angered Commissioner Paul O'Neal, who represents the Poplar Branch Township that includes Jarvisburg.``The people in the south end lose again,'' he said, shaking his head. ``That school will never be built.''
O'Neal referred to construction of the county water system, which reached southward to Grandy before it ran out of money from bond issues. Currituck voters then shot down another bond referendum to complete the project.
Some worried aloud Tuesday that an attempt to float more bonds to finish the schools construction plan would face a similar fate.
Schools Superintendent William R. Capps assured O'Neal an elementary school in lower Currituck would remain a priority, however it was funded. MEMO: SCHOOL PROJECT BUDGET HISTORY
May 1992: Initial project budget, based on long-range capital
improvements plan prepared by consultants, established at $12.2
million.
Sept./Oct. 1993: Architect and school officials work to reduce square
footage of draft submitted a month earlier.
Nov. 1993: Program revised to 170,800 square feet with further
reductions required to align costs with budget. Bond referendum passes.
Dec. 1993: Size of building reduced again to 168,028 square feet.
March 1994: More meetings to review project budgets. Architect proceeds
with design and tries to reduce costs by eliminating metal roofing and
fire sprinkler system and selecting some less costly materials for
interior partitions, floors and exterior brick. Construction budget is
$11.9 million.
May/June 1994: Design development completed; budget is $12.6 million.
Architect, school board and facilities review committee agree to omit
auto tech and agricultural tech labs, football/team locker space, front
entrance canopy and to reduce size of locker rooms and media center.
These cuts bring budget down to almost $11.9 million.
Dec. 1994: Bids received for 159,455-square-foot facility. Lowest one
comes in at $15.6 million.
Jan. 1995: Architect and contractors develop ``cost reduction
modification'' proposals that bring construction costs down to $13.9
million.
Source: HBA Architecture & Interior Design
by CNB