Paul Kneedler says the city should expect to pay a third of the estimated $118 million to build a new school.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  — Architects say within a few months the city will know how much it will have to pay to build a new school.

 

Ballpark figures puts the cost to taxpayers somewhere in the $40 million range with the state picking up the tab for about 80 million.

 

Paul Kneedler, a consultant with Skanska, the firm working on the project, told the School Building Commission on Monday that state will pay about two-thirds of the total cost.

 

That number is more accurate than the previously estimated 80 percent reimbursement for the $118 million proposal because there are a number of things the state won't cover.

 

"You are probably looking at 64 to 67, 68 percent," of the total cost, Kneedler told the commissioners.

 

For example, the city will have to pay to remove the asbestos floor tiles, will need to do utility work on Valentine Road and will need attorneys and permitting — all of which will receive no reimbursement from the state.

 

Further work on the site but not in the building is capped at 8 percent, with the city footing the remainder. 

 

"I don't know if there is a job in Massachusetts that hasn't gone over that 8 percent," Kneedler said.

 

And, the state also caps its reimbursement at $287 per square foot. Taconic's current plans are estimated to cost $372 per square foot.

 

Kneedler said Plymouth South High School is in the phase of signing contracts for the work and of the $107 million project, taxpayers are expected to take on some $60 million. That town started with a 53 percent reimbursement rate but only 80 percent of the costs were eligible for it.

 

"In reality, they are getting an effective reimbursement rate of 42.9 percent when you compare it to the total project cost," he said. 

 

The town of Haverhill matches closer to Pittsfield, though, with a similar starting reimbursement rate of 79 percent. Eighty-two percent of that project was eligible for reimbursement, leaving the town to pay about 45 percent of the total cost.

 

Kneedler said once the schematic design phase is completed, the Massachusetts School Building Authority will look through all aspects to determine what it will and will not pay for. From there, the city and the state will have to reach agreements on contracts.

 

According to Carl Franceschi of Drummey Rosane Anderson architects, the firms are hoping to have a scope of work and budget by spring 2015. Then the firm will spend a year detailing the specifications for a 2016 bid. Eventually the building will be constructed in 2016 and 2017 for an opening in later summer of 2018.

 

"We can still meet the original schedule," Franceschi said.

 

The commissioners had hoped to move to the next step in the process already but had to delay for two months because the state hadn't responded to their first filings. Fransceschi said the firm received comments on its submission of an educational plan and a space program and, with Mayor Daniel Bianchi and Superintendent Jason McCandless, traveled to Boston last week to answer questions the MSBA had.

 

"MSBA wants to make sure we get the program down before we jump into designing the building," Franceschi said of the educational plan.

 

The MSBA wanted more clarification on those two aspects because the comprehensive high school plan isn't a replication of what is currently happening at the school, Franceschi said, and includes more flexibility.

 

The MSBA reduced the size of the proposed building by 5,000 square feet — a reduction in one classroom, a science lab and shrinking the size of a couple other rooms. That dropped to estimated cost to $118 million.