Bourne's plan to make town buildings more energy efficient just got more expensive
BUZZARDS BAY — Rising costs could derail plans to ask town meeting voters to fund hiring Trane Technologies to overhaul energy systems in all schools and municipal buildings.
The proposal is bound for the Oct. 24 special town meeting warrant. The initial cost was $5.1 million for Phase I of a building-by-building effort to secure energy efficiencies over two decades.
The cost is now $5.6 million.
Trane needs guarantees from suppliers and installers to coincide with the Bourne scope of work to make all schools and town buildings more energy efficient, Town Administrator Marlene McCollem told the Finance Committee on Thursday.
“So, they’re in the process of getting those firm prices,” McCollem said. “Those firm prices have been coming in higher. So that means essentially the ‘not-to-exceed’ proposal number is $5.6 million."
She said at this point she could not inform the Finance Committee what scope of work it would be “buying into for that total.”
McCollem said a final figure must still be determined prior to any Finance Committee discussion about recommending the article to voters.
What does higher cost mean for project
"I’m not going to be able to pretend we’re going to do the scope that we had intended to do. There are going to be things that have to come out of it," she said,
More: Leaking Bourne Middle School roof no longer a top priority
She said the article is in flux both as to cost and also the interest rate on borrowing.
McCollem said the initial $5.1 million proposal with a 2.6 % interest rate has increased to $5.6 million at 3.73%. She said “a not to exceed figure” would not be ready for voters until the night of town meeting.
“The scope of work (in Phase 1) will have to be cut,” she said. “We’re going to continue to work on this.”
What projects were part of Phase 1?
Phase 1 would include repairs to the D-Wing roof at Bourne High School, which has leaked on classrooms below for at least 35 years, as well as a Town Hall boiler replacement and a chiller at Bourne Public Library.
McCollem said rising costs and the interest rate hike alone could negate the boiler replacement. She said if the Finance Committee and selectmen opt not to pursue the Trane proposal, the town could chart municipal energy savings through the capital spending program, but that would be time-consuming, exhausting and difficult.
More: Bourne mulls hiring firm to oversee making buildings more energy efficient
McCollem said it took Trane a year to prepare its Bourne proposal.
“It would take us years to create a program on our own. We don’t have the resources,” she said. “It would take three or four years, five years.”
“I think this is important this be vetted at town meeting to know what we’re getting or what we’re not going to be getting,” Finance Committee member Rich Lavoie said. “So voters will understand how their tax dollars are being spent.”
The Finance Committee may meet during the week of Oct. 17 to consider what to do regarding the Trane proposal and an article recommendation to town meeting voters. Failing that, the panel will gather just prior to town meeting’s start to discuss it.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Bourne's plan to hire firm to cut energy costs is now more expensive
