Resident questions cost overruns on school project in Howell

The recent Howell Board of Education budget hearing left me with more questions than answers. Am I to understand that the board contracted the builder of the new schools to have the project completed in nine months, when he admitted that his company has never completed a school in less than 12 months? Bad weather and remediation aside, it seems like the builder was given an impossible schedule to meet at the beginning.

The original contracted cost of the new elementary schools was $16,996,000. The board set aside a total of $19,138,900 for the construction, including emergencies and cost overruns. Between the acceleration costs and change orders, they paid the contractor an additional $1,508,665.

That bears repeating, $1.5 million in cost overruns on a $17 million contract. That is an outrageous 9 percent of the original cost. More astonishing is the fact that the board and the contractor proclaim that they are $600,000 under budget. What economics class did they take?

The change orders included $5,000 sinks in the libraries, adding exit signs and fireproofing beams and trusses (which is required by state code and should have been included in the original estimate).

I am very disturbed by these numbers. With a little foresight, we could have built the schools for the agreed upon price and passed the savings back to the taxpayers. With a little self-control, we could have had new schools without breaking the taxpayers’ backs. The aforementioned $1.5 million could have been used to offset furnishing the school and buying supplies, instead, the children come home armed with laundry lists of items to bring to school, from crayons and markers to tissues and hand wipes, and teachers purchase supplies with their own money.

I expect a little more accountability than this from the board. The taxpayers deserve more accountability than what we have been given. A $1.5 million cost overrun is nothing to be proud of, especially when it’s someone else’s money they are using to finance it.

Robert W. Trento

Howell