District facilities projects come in under budget, School Board hears

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

Eight months after the Charles City Middle School’s grand opening, the final costs are tallied — at $64,064 under budget.

All totaled, the Charles City Community School District spent $18,990,936 for the full Charles City Middle School addition, as compared to the original budget of $19,473,499.

From the three main facility projects in 2016 — the middle school, the east parking lot and the Comet Drive loop around the high school/middle school — the district came in under budget in all three areas, saving a total of $112,436 originally budgeted for. That amount will be released back into the PPEL/sales tax cash reserves for the district to use on any future building projects that the Charles City Board of Education chooses to do, Business Manager Terri O’Brien told board members during Monday’s meeting.

The district spent $180,102 on design costs, noted board members Robin Macomber and Jason Walker. Both members hoped those costs would be lower during the Phase II high school renovation or reconstruction project discussions.

“One hundred eighty thousand dollars was spent, essentially, prior to full community buy-in. As we went through the process that was kind of a hard lesson learned,” Walker said. “Here it’s obviously a different scenario with the funding, where if the community’s not onboard, upfront this time around, we won’t pass the bond and we won’t build a building.”

“This being under budget is phenomenal. It’s not something that happens very often,” Macomber said.

After a final presentation by Estes Project Manager Scott Sheller, the board approved a final contract amendment of $27,796, and a final pay application credit of $88,994.65 on the middle school facility project.

Certified budget

The board approved the 2017-2018 certified budget with a 6 percent income surtax rate, the same rate of 2016-2017, and a $12.89 property tax rate. The property tax is a decrease of $0.04. Student supplemental aid from the state government (SSA) is 1.11 percent.

Make-up days

The final day of school this year will be a full class day on June 2, ending at regular dismissal time (3:10 p.m. and 3:15 p.m.) for students. That day traditionally would have been a half-day, Superintendent Dr. Dan Cox told board members, but snow days over the year would have pushed the district to schedule class hours on the following Monday. Faculty members will make up contract hours from June 5-9.

Other business

A closure on the athletic land complex purchase agreement is anticipated to arrive on Friday, Cox told the board.

The next Phase II facilities community meeting is scheduled for April 19 at 5 p.m.

An updated enrollment study will likely be available at the next Board of Education meeting on April 24. That meeting will take place at the Floyd Community Center instead of the Charles City Middle School. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. as usual.