BEVERLY — Beverly will get an $81.5 million high school at a cost of $33.7 million to the city, according to the latest figures provided by Mayor Bill Scanlon last night.
Scanlon told city councilors that the Massachusetts School Building Authority has agreed to pay as much as 58.42 percent of the total cost of the project.
"We stand to collect as much as $47.8 million from the state," he said. "That's pretty powerful."
Councilors greeted the news with relief after last week's vote by the School Building Authority's board of directors that capped the cost of the project at $75 million. Scanlon said last night the board had made a mistake, thinking Beverly could come back and ask for more money later.
He said the authority's executive director, Katherine Craven, agreed on Friday that the cap will be raised to $81.5 million, which Scanlon said is more in line with the true cost of the project.
"I commend you for your hard work," Councilor Maureen Troubetaris told Scanlon. "I always felt we would come up with that money."
Scanlon said the City Council must approve the $81.5 million cost by Oct. 27, which is the deadline for the city to award the construction contract to one of the four bidders. If the city does not meet that deadline, the contract must be put out to bid again and could end up costing the city more money, Scanlon said.
Councilors John Burke and Pat Grimes expressed concern that the MSBA's board of directors has not yet approved the $81.5 million figure and is not scheduled to meet until November.
"I don't know for sure that they'll vote this money and neither do you," Grimes told Scanlon.
But Scanlon said he was confident the MSBA board would approve the figure, and said he will have a commitment in writing from the agency before the City Council votes. The council scheduled a public hearing on the matter for Oct. 20.
Once the contract is awarded, Scanlon said construction could begin in November. Plans call for a new four-story building on the site of the lower parking lot at the current high school on Sohier Road, along with renovations to the field house, auditorium and cafeteria.
Scanlon said he has dropped plans to build an artificial turf stadium as part of the project, because the MSBA will not reimburse for an athletic field. The stadium would have cost $5 million to $6 million.
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