School work moves forward

Officials forego $1.4 million in state aid

District trustees have decided it will be cost-effective to forego $1.4 million in state aid to move forward with the second phase of the $137.5 million high school project.

Approval was given by unanimous vote of trustees present Wednesday during a Board of Education meeting. Trustees Robin Jacobowitz and Danielle Guido were absent.

“The state Education Department has informed us if we move forward now... we would lose out on (a portion of) in aidable construction,” Superintendent Paul Padalino said.

Following the meeting, Padalino said about $2.3 million in construction costs would not be eligible for $1.4 million in state aid. He said the figures were derived from having about $24 million remaining in the construction budget to renovate and upgrade the original high school building. He noted that most of the $24 million in remaining work will be covered by the same aid rate of 60 percent used for the project’s first phase.

The $2.33 million that will not be eligible for state aid is a result of the limit New York state puts on the amount districts can claim for aid over a five-year period.

The net loss of state aid would be $1.4 million, which Padalino said the district could recoup only if officials chose to wait two years.

However, Padalino encouraged officials to move forward with the project rather than wait because recent construction cost increases nationwide have made it likely that, by delaying, the district would risk cutting into expected savings on the project.

“I feel very confident in saying that we have a $137.5 million project that the voters approved and we will not be spending $137.5 million if we do this now,” he said.

Padalino said construction

projects involving several luxury hotels in Kingston are expected to make bids for district work less competitive than otherwise.

“Escalation is happening in ways that we really didn’t anticipate five years ago when we started this project,” he said.

Officials estimated that construction costs over the next four years are expected to increase by 4.44 percent, with the district saving $4.18 million in project costs by starting sooner. It would also result in aid on the work done after the first two years for taxpayer savings of $1.67 million.

Officials also emphasized the consistency in advancing programs in the high school and did not want to lose momentum from accomplishment of the expansion that was completed earlier this year.

“It’s almost a no-brainer,” Trustee Rev. James Childs said. “We could lose a lot by waiting and the momentum is going and ... we’ve got the (project management) skill set that we need.”