Middleton expects to save $3M on school

By Mike Stucka
Staff Writer

January 09, 2009 09:54 am

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MIDDLETON — Architects and planners have shaved more than $3 million from the expected cost of the new Howe-Manning School, to about $33 million, an application filed this week says.

Separately, Middleton is trying to get the federal government to pay up to $16.6 million, the town's expected share.

Frank FitzGerald, co-chairman of the Middleton School Building Committee, said Town Meeting could vote on the $32,975,600 proposal in May if the state School Building Authority commits to funding nearly half the project.

Though several proposals to replace Middleton's aging, cramped schools have failed in the past, FitzGerald thinks this project will succeed. Earlier estimates predicted a $36.1 million school.

"The costs were less," FitzGerald said yesterday. "Just listening to the project manager and the architect, I know they were aware that the costs had to be kept down. We hounded them on this issue. We want a good building. We want a functional building. But by no means do we want a building that is beyond reasonable for the community."

An architect sent the proposed budget and other documents to the state on Monday. The Massachusetts School Building Authority's staff will review the proposal and bring it to the authority's board, which meets every two months. FitzGerald said he'd like to get a response in time to get it on the warrant for the May Town Meeting.

FitzGerald said the town clamped down on costs because the state only pays a flat rate per square foot. The new school is expected to be about 83,000 square feet.

"Whether you coat the walls with gold or tar paper, this is what you're going to get," he said.

FitzGerald said a weakening economy may make contractors willing to work for less and lower the prices on some materials.

The state agency will finalize its share of the costs. The percentage of reimbursement can change with the amount of "green" environmentally friendly features in the school.

The new Howe-Manning Elementary School is to be built behind the existing school, which would be razed. Students would stay in the old school until the new building is completed.

Separately, Town Administrator Ira Singer is asking the state to put the Howe-Manning replacement school on a list of federal stimulus projects. If accepted, the state and the federal government could essentially split the cost of the school's construction, which could employ hundreds of people, Singer said. The existing school was completed in 1938 by the Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration.

Staff writer Steve Landwehr contributed to this report.