Date: Fri 03-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

high-school-contingency-fund

Full Text:

High School Construction Contingency Fund Runs Low

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The Newtown High School contingency fund appears to be running on empty.

Last month, the Board of Education was informed that about half of the

project's million-dollar emergency fund still remained. However, several

surprisingly large bills arrived in the mail recently, sending contingency

expenses through the roof. Two of those bills have put an additional $330,000

dent in the fund, which is set up to cover unforeseen costs on large projects.

Another $660,000 has already been used from the fund to cover change orders at

the site. Some of them are still pending.

"My understanding is we'll have enough to finish the job, but we're monitoring

it very closely," Board of Education Chairman Herb Rosenthal told the

Legislative Council's finance committee Wednesday night.

The school system recently received an invoice for moving and storage

totalling $225,000, a huge bill considering the school had only set aside

$40,000 for moving and storage. During the project, school officials said they

were forced to find an outside source to store furniture and other school

materials. Originally, the plans called for storing the material in the high

school's new addition. However, it was not completed in time and requests to

store the material at Town Hall South were denied.

The school was surprised when a second bill, totalling $180,000, arrived for

dumpster usage. This bill was especially surprising since only $30,000 was

budgeted for dumpsters. This was an apparent error made by the project's

general contractor, O&G Industries.

"How O&G could have estimated $30,000 and come out to where it did, I don't

know," Mr Rosenthal said.

Earlier this week, the school system's business manager, John Torok, was

visiting area warehouses trying to figure out why the bills were so high.

"Unfortunately, these bills just start coming in," he said. The amount of

money still remaining in contingency is still being determined, he said.

Council chairman Pierre Rochman said he was baffled at how the available

contingency funds could drop from $500,000 down to near zero so quickly.

"Unless you're using a crystal ball, it's hard to determine what all the costs

will be," Mr Torok said. "You try to give it your best estimate."

At Hawley School, $40,000 in contingency funds remain from the original

$150,000 set aside.

None of the $80,000 set aside for contingency during the Head O' Meadow School

roof replacement was used.

The high school project is slated to be complete by November 24.