Submitted by Brian Raney
The Board of Estimation & Taxation Funds Committee didn’t deal with an crucial problem about the Julian Curtiss (JC) renovation integrated in the proposed Very first Selectman’s Finances (the Colleges part of which came from the Board of Training) – Is it an economical use of our dollars?
In the proposed price range, there are projections for upcoming a long time. Many educational facilities have comprehensive renovation line items in the up coming 15 several years. There are also on-heading upkeep assignments for the present-day year, which contain 5-yr projections, some of which specify which faculty will be completed in a presented 12 months, eg HVAC at Julian Curtiss in FY2024-2025. This is redundant if a full renovation takes place, as people similar expenditures are included in the renovation or no for a longer period needed, these kinds of as that JC HVAC work. (Do not imagine me? Check out the Venture Details Sheets in the Proposed Money Spending plan.)
There are two comprehensive university renovations planned for the subsequent 5 several years – JC in 2022 and Outdated Greenwich (OG) in 2024. Education Specs are complete for JC and just about done for OG.
There are fears amongst several about the scope of the Ed Specs for JC and increasing place at a college that is only at 60% potential. For comparison, OG is at 79%. Even Parkway is at 79%.
In the future 5 years, JC has about $5.9M in identifiable upkeep costs. OG has about $9.3M The cost of the JC renovation is $26.7M. The value of the OG renovation is $28.2M. If we do the complete renovation, we preserve the charge of the 5-yr upkeep. The internet value of the OG renovation would only be $18.9M vs the $20.9M for JC – a cost savings of $1.9M.
One more way to glimpse at it is what’s much more affordable to maintain for the up coming 5 yrs – JC at $5.9M or OG at $9.3M?
Yet another measure of bang for our buck is how lots of pupils we’re impacting. Even if we look at the college potential rather than enrolled students, it is much less expensive on a for each seat basis to do OG.
Central Center College is not scheduled for renovation right until 2033 but has $21.5M in maintenance in the following 5yrs. That is $10M earlier mentioned any elementary college. Not paying twice for that upkeep would be a massive acquire. 2033 is a extensive way out but the reviews on the school as it is now are not fantastic. BOE has a cash request this yr to do a in-depth report to comprehend its ailment (which, by the way, undermines even the directional usefulness of the KG+D report). Sadly, there isn’t enough data to involve CMS in the selection of which college to renovate subsequent.
We have a large amount of “maintenance debt” on our schools that is coming because of. Spending $1.9M a lot less will be valuable. In fact, that savings can be applied to JC or CMS. Win-get! Hopefully the full Guess will talk to the dilemma.
Brian Raney crafting entirely for himself