Newton officials unveiled the first complete picture of what a new Angier Elementary School might look and say the project has come in right on budget, Evan Allen reports on Boston.com
“We are very happy to be here tonight,” said the city’s Chief Financial Officer Maureen Lemieux at a joint meeting of the Board of Aldermen and the School Committee where completed schematic designs were revealed. “We are on budget, we are on schedule.”
My comment on the Muni-Wonk Tread Here Come the Schools might be more appropos here
I have to disagree with the whole on time and on budget rhetoric.
As recently as May, the Angier project was projected to cost $30 million.
http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/sites/default/files/facilities_Q_&_A_05_14_12_0.pdf
I attended the May 13 School Committee and asked about why Carr’s cost has increased from $8 million to $12.75 million as well as why Angier’s cost increased from $30 million to $37.5 million. Ward 2 School Committee Member Jonathan Yeo (D-Newtonville) questioned my sources for Angier’s original projected cost and I responded that it was in The Boston Globe.
Joshua, was the $30M the share of the total project cost that Newton would need to cover? MSBA covers a portion of the cost of these projects, so this could be nothing more than how one looks at the numbers. Just asking…
Usually people celebrate a project’s success when the structure is complete. I don’t know who is responsible for this early rhetoric. In several years we will know whether Angier has been built according to budget.
As a base-point, October 2012 City Hall provided a comprehensive capital review. On page 27 Angier appears at a cost of $35mm exclusive of amounts already expended. http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=47046
Only off by a year. That would be May of 2012, before the schematic design had commenced and the site-specific issues at Angier were understood. Well before the override vote the $37 million value had been accurately vetted and was out in public.
Sorry Hoss, you dropped your post in just before I posted mine.
By the time of the override vote, the amount of money being asked to rebuild Angier included over $2 million in improvements to area school-access roadways. These are not direct school costs but the debt exclusion has provided a funding mechanism to pay for them.
Randy, the MSBA reimbursement for the Angier project is conservatively estimated at $10 million. This would leave the City’s contribution at $27.5 million. l
Egads. I find myself agreeing with Joshua Norman. Except that Carr will actually cost $13 million.
Ted,
Why are you surprised about the excellent work Joshua does on behalf of taxpayers? He isn’t elected and receives no monetary compensation. Yet he provides an important service to any resident who wants to know how our gov’t is spending tax dollars.
Thank goodness you are running for Mayor. This is a great way to help residents to evaluate Setti’s job as Mayor. You and Joshua are the only people doing the work of accountability which is essential to good gov’t.
I do not see any other Aldermen/women telling Newton residents what is really going on in Newton. The SC leaders are masters at blurring the reality of how our tax $s are spent.
Colleen, thank you as always for recognizing my contribution towards moving Newton forward in a fiscally responsible direction.
Ted, Egads! I remembered you mentioned the Carr School on Ken Parker’s show last week and I just sent you an email about the Carr School.
I guess its a good thing we’re not talking about naming rights or we’d be both shocked that we’re on the same page on that one too.
Randy, Hingham’s gross cost was $27M and its net cost was $17M. Compare that to Angier’s $37.5M gross cost and its projected net cost of $27.5M.
Hoss, I remembered when Angier’s projected cost went from $30M in May 2012 to $35M around October 2012 to $37.5M in March 2013.
Steve, I only hope that the MSBA will be able to keep the gross cost of Angier at or below $37.5 million now that it is in schematic design.
Maybe the $30 million estimate was a little too premature for the city to release in FY 2012. Kevin Dutt expressed concerns about project cost estimates in his recent guest column.
Village14/Greg/Gail/Jerry, Kevin Dutt formerly of the CAG also expressed concern about Newton’s fiscal performance recently as well.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/opinions/letters/x997478595/Kevin-Dutt-Its-time-to-examine-Newtons-fiscal-performance
Joshua,
I remember that article by K.Dutt. So seldom do we see articles like that. For anyone that is interested in Newton’s fiscal situation just search the web for the city comptroller’s annual reports and the regular auditors’ reports. Lots of relevant info. in those documents.
Joshua will be an excellent source to as we all watch carefully as the Angier project unfolds. Now we will all see our gov’t in action.
@Joshua, Did the $26.6M Hingham East Elementary School cost include all soft costs(looks like Hingham voters approved $1.7M for additional design funds for the school in 2006)? Also, if my brief internet research is correct, they went to voters for construction funding in 2008, and they bid the project during the construction bubble collapse while costs were presumably at their lowest. Even if you ignore that fact, we are 5 years later now. Construction inflation since 2008/2009(the lowest construction costs in recent history), is at the low end 4%. Also, since this site was prepped in 2005 when the old East Elementary School was demolished for appx $400K, the $26.6M did not include any demo, hazmat, etc, like the proposed new Angier does.
I guess my overall point is that there is a lot to look at when you are trying to compare construction projects, construction costs, design costs, etc. Seems like we should make sure that it really is apples to apples. I will give you that Hingham’s new East Elementary School was 90Kft2 compared to the proposed 75Kft2 for Angier, but there are a ton of other factors that need to be looked at to make a fair comparison.
Just my 2 cents…
Also, as a point of reference. Hingham East Elementary School was 91Kft2 and cost $26.6M. That would be appx $292/ft2. At a 4% inflation rate from 2008 to 2013, Angier would be $355/ft2, or $26.6M if the project is identical in scope to Hingham. These are only construction costs, and they don’t include soft costs as best I can tell. Just more info for the masses.
Randy, Newton could have taken advantage of the same downturn in the capital markets to fund Angier without resorting to an override during FY 2008-13 if the teachers union/administrators were willing to have taken $6.5 Million in increased compensation (via increased staffing levels, cash salaries and benefits) in FY 2010 versus FY 2009 instead of the $7.8 Million that they ended up getting.
Don’t forget, the Teachers/Secretaries/Custodian Union Contracts had previously expired around the July 1, 2009-September 1, 2009 time period. Such changes could have been implemented around that time.
Or it could have been achieved earlier if David Cohen and his School Committee had the political will to demand $7M/year from Boston and other cities and towns for educating over 500 out-of-district students in Newton Public Schools or terminate those programs.
As to your original question about Hingham’s total project cost, the cost you cited included the impact of design fees and demolition of the old building.
On a price/square foot basis net of MSBA reimbursement, Hingham paid $187 for its new school building while Newton is projected to pay $367. Even if you take into account the five year time period that will elapse between Hingham East Elementary reopening and Angier reopening, that still represents a CAGR of 14.45% annually for 5 years.
It seems that in comparison to Hingham, Newton taxpayers pay more for less. Whether we’re talking about the operating budget or school building projects, Newton seems to pay 40% more than Hingham for similar goods, services and academic results.
Just my 2 cents.