While there have been concerns about the cost of the five new schools Norwich is building, the School Building Committee is confident it can stay within budget.
Two budget ordinances were withdrawn from the Norwich City Council meeting Monday night. One measure, proposed by council Republicans, would have reduced the budget from $385 million to $342 million. The other, proposed by Democratic Party leader pro tempore Joe DeLucia and Council Member Shiela Hayes, would have increased the budget to $435 million.
These regulations were first presented at the meeting on 15 July.
Voters approved the school construction project in November 2022. The adopted plan calls for the construction of new elementary school buildings at the Uncas, Greenville, Stanton and Moriarty sites, as well as other work. While the total cost was $385 million, the expected cost to the city at the time, after state grants, was $149 million.
Support for neither increasing nor reducing funding for the school building project came from the Norwich Board of Education and from City Councilor and Chairman of the School Building Committee Mark Bettencourt (D).
“It was a long project and the numbers have changed over time, but I always wanted to reach $385 million or more,” he said.
Updated construction costs and student enrollments are taken into account in the decision
On August 15, Bettencourt sent a letter to the City Council explaining that the committee had recommended that neither ordinance be put to a referendum. On August 16, Norwich Board of Education Chairman Mark Kulos sent a letter to the City Council calling for a special meeting of the board. After seeing the updated construction costs, all seven of the nine board members present agreed that neither ordinance should be put to a referendum.
“After reviewing the updated construction costs, the Norwich Board of Education recommends to the Norwich City Council that no new bond ordinances are necessary because the school construction project can be completed for the approved bond amount of $385 million,” the letter said.
The high cost of the Greeneville School site was the biggest concern. To get a better sense of the costs, a value analysis would need to be done, Bettencourt told The Bulletin in July.
Since then, the School Construction Committee has had the opportunity to get a clearer picture. It was determined that the projected enrollment for Teachers’ Memorial Global Magnet Middle School is lower, which has helped reduce the cost of work on the Teachers’ School.
The original plan was to expand the Uncas and Moriarty schools by 5,000 square feet. There may be smaller classrooms, but it’s doable. The goal is to have equal “program opportunities” at all schools, Bettencourt said.
“We will build it to the specifications that the state allows us for reimbursement,” he said. “That may change later if we get better enrollment numbers and more flexibility. We will take that into account.”
