Farmington OKs $9.7 million more to replace its high school

In a rare December referendum, Farmington voters on Thursday approved covering cost overruns for the town’s new high school by raising the construction budget by $9.7 million.

The decision means planners can restore tennis courts, a third elevator and other amenities that were in peril because of steeply rising costs for materials and labor.

The vote was overwhelming, with unofficial results showing it passed 1,655 to 764.

“I couldn’t be more pleased that this project will be moving forward. This was a big win for the town, the school and the taxpayers,” said C.J. Thomas, chair of the town council.

A half-dozen voters outside the polls at library and the community center during the day told The Courant that they’d voted “yes,” with each one saying they want to support local education.

“We need to keep up the condition of our schools,” Jon Maesner said.

“The school is old and needs to be replaced,” Paul Riggs said.

Turnout was lower than in a regular election, which wasn’t surprising for a vote held just a month after the statewide elections and in the midst of the holiday preparation season.

About 13 percent of eligible voters showed up at the polls, according to officials.

Project planners said the timing of the referendum was dictated by the startlingly bad news they got when reviewing contractors’ bids in October.

Overall, the cost of demolishing most of the existing high school and building a three-story, 239,000-square-foot replacement alongside it was supposed to cost $135.6 million. Voters overwhelmingly authorized that plan in June of 2021.

But supply chain troubles, labor shortages and construction inflation since then have been relentless, planners said.

O & G Industries, construction manager for the project, had built in a contingency for inflation. But actual price quotes were more than 5 percent higher even after that was factored in, according to the School Building Committee.

The full budget for all construction labor and materials had been set at $115.6 million, but the lowest bids in October totaled $121.5 million, according to Lorel Purcell of O&G.

Those bids cover materials, electrical work, carpentry, plumbing and other components for the new building, and are the heart of the budget.

Town and school officials were eager to lock them in to prevent further increases, and scheduled the December referendum. The plan is for Farmington to sign contracts this month and in January.

Planners had already taken $3.8 million worth of expenses out of the original plan. That meant the school wouldn’t have tennis courts or a third elevator, and would be built with cheaper flooring tiles and ceiling material.

But the building committee opted to restore those costs along with amenities such as a moving partition between the gyms and horizontal sunshades for the windows. Combining that $3.8 million with the $5.9 million in overruns, the referendum asked voters to authorize a total of $9.7 million more.

The referendum math wasn’t simple: Ultimately, local taxpayers will spend about $5 million less on construction than initially planned, yet they’ll pay more for the overall project.

That’s because state aid for the new high school turned out to be millions of dollars more than anticipated in 2021; the $9.7 million that voters approved Thursday will be new state funding, not local money.

But at the same time, interest costs have soared from the near-zero level of June 2021. And most of that expense will be borne by Farmington property owners; the building committee projects the tax impact to the average taxpayer will be $25 over the next five years.