Financial savings made wishes come true for the new Iola Elementary School.
USD 257 school board members and administrators finalized their “wish list” of construction items for the new school, after learning of the savings they’ll get with the third and final part of the voter-approved school bond project.
The list includes things like additional parking, a multipurpose room and equipment in the gymnasium, a walking trail extension, and additional classroom storage.
In all, the district plans to add $1.4 million in upgrades.
The cost to build the school, $26.1 million, includes just the basics. The cost to build a new science and technology center at Iola High School is $7.29 million.
But each of those projects have come in well under budget and include contingency funds that, so far, have mostly not been needed. That frees up money to pay for the additional features, and still keep the total costs within budget.
On Thursday, the board accepted bids to replace the HVAC system at Iola Middle School, the smallest of the projects with a total cost of $2.84 million.
After learning the district will save $592,312 on the project, board members decided to also use that money to pay for upgrades.
“That’s how we can afford to do the alternates,” Randy Coonrod, with the general contractor for the project, Coonrod & Associates, told board members.
The HVAC project received seven competitive bids from contractors, eager for the work during the pandemic. The district offered the project at just the right time to cash in on savings, he and Terry Wiggers, executive vice president with SJCF Architects, said.
The HVAC project could get another big financial boost as well, Superintendent Stacey Fager told board members.
The project may qualify for federal money given to the district as part of coronavirus relief funding, because it will improve the air quality and ventilation in the building. Fager hopes he can use about $900,000 or so from the relief funds for the IMS HVAC project, thus freeing up that money.
NOW IS the right time to add upgrades to the project, Allison Le, an architect with SJCF, said.
Costs are typically less if the additional work is added to existing construction.
Plus, the costs will be factored as part of the bond payments and can be paid for over time.
