The town council in Cromwell, Conn., has voted to allow its Middle School Building Committee to go ahead with a $58.6 million project while expressing concerns about the budget being $21 million over what voters approved during a referendum last summer.
The Middletown Press noted Feb. 13 that the added expenditures included $17.2 million for the construction, and $3.8 million for other "soft" costs.
Council members will wait to revisit the issue in April or May, when the next estimate is received, according to the news outlet.
A new middle school for Cromwell is "desperately needed," Superintendent of Schools Enza Macri told the Press Feb. 10.
"The current facility does not have the educational space or layout to support a STEAM curriculum," she explained. "This is significant when we think about preparing students adequately for high school and beyond."
Voters passed the ballot measure in June by a vote of 970 to 231.
"I'm sure there's nobody who wants to go back twice," Cromwell Mayor Steve Fortenbach said, adding that if project costs exceed even $1 over $56 million, the question whether to spend more must again be put to voters.
Expenditures, Fortenbach explained, "can't be looked at in a vacuum, because there are other projects in town the residents are looking for."
The Cromwell school district has said it expects about 40 percent of the final costs will be borne by the Connecticut Board of Education.
Building Committee Chairperson Rosanna Glynn expressed frustration over the matter at a special Town Council meeting Feb. 8.
"The committee was led to believe that our concept cost estimation had everything that we had discussed, such as the enlarged stage and auditorium," she noted. "We had documentation indicating as much. It is also frustrating that there is no direct line to make an apples-to-apples comparison between the two designs. All the questions the Town Council asked, we asked ourselves."
Macri added that the building committee "has been very committed to [its] core value of transparency during this project. They expect it of themselves as well as their partners."
She said members will be reviewing project information "to see where a partner in this project may not have provided appropriate information. Financially, no one wants to be in this situation. I am confident that the building committee will sharpen their pencils and find additional cost savings."
Students Deserve to Have Proper Resources
Rising costs may prohibit building sports fields and an auditorium for the new middle school, the committee wrote on its website, something Macri hopes the town will never face.
"Cromwell children deserve both a new school and the athletic facilities that go along with it," she explained. "We should not have to sacrifice one for the other; however, this is a community project, and we will work together to do what is best."
But some Cromwell residents are wondering whether the project would simply be abandoned due to the large cost increase, the Middletown news outlet reported.
"Anything is a possibility, but, right now, we are way too early in the process to head in that direction," Macri said, adding that there are two more outstanding estimates and bids. "We will really know what we are dealing with, cost wise, after those bids are received.
"At that time, a decision will have to be made, but the hope is, costs will be lower than predicted," she added.
During the Feb. 8 Cromwell town meeting, Councilmember Jennifer Donahue told the gathering, "We have to be very clear as we're moving this forward. What are the costs, why are the costs different, and educate everybody on that because we cannot keep going back and doing this. Where is the trust in the project and what we are doing?"
In his remarks to the Press, Fortenbach said, "I think it is imperative for the school building committee to dig deep and define our wants and needs on the project to try and bring [costs] down. We have a fiduciary responsibility to the residents. We should be delivering a great project," but one, he described, as "fiscally responsible."
"No one wants to see this project go over budget, and we are going to do everything in our power to close the gap," Glynn added.
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