West Aurora School District 129 is looking at higher than expected bids for proposed capital improvement projects, though the school board did approve moving forward with a geothermal heating project at West Aurora High School.
“Most of the time we talk about projects being under budget and how excited we are. That will not be happening,” West Aurora Assistant Superintendent of Operations Angie Smith told the school board recently.
The administration earlier this year presented a capital projects plan for 2022 through 2024 at an estimated cost of $12.2 million, including heating and cooling system work at Jewel Middle School in North Aurora and final projects extending the geothermal heating program at West Aurora High School, as well as door and window replacements across the district, Smith said.
Favorable bids as in past years would allow the district to consider other building upgrades, Smith said.
“We talked about the fact that if those projects came in where we would like them to, we would look at some learning spaces,” Smith said.
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However, the recent bids came in 50% higher than projected.
“We recently opened a few bids, and as I alluded to things did not necessarily play out the way we anticipated,” Smith said.
The district budgeted $2 million for the Jewel Middle School work and $3 million for the project at West Aurora High School. However, bids came in higher than expected. The Jewel work came in at $4 million and the West Aurora High School project came in at $6.9 million.
Bids ranged from $6.9 million to $13 million for the West High project, Smith said.
Smith said some districts rejected bids last summer for projects and this has impacted the current bidding climate.
“There were districts even last summer that put projects out to bid but didn’t get the numbers they liked and so they held. What it has done was to create a bottleneck,” she told the school board.
Labor issues and supply chain shortages have led some contractors to “drive prices sky high,” she said.
Completing the West Aurora High School geothermal project will result in a natural gas savings of approximately $50,000 annually, Smith said.
“If we were to hit pause and bid the projects next year, we run the risk for the pricing to be even higher. We don’t think that’s the position to take,” Smith said.
The district can cover the projects without running a budget deficit, she said.
“We can do all this and still have a positive budget this year,” Smith said.
The school board in a 7-0 vote approved the West Aurora High School geothermal conversion project. The board awarded a base bid to the lowest bidder, Lite Construction, Inc. for a total amount of $6,394,700. The board also awarded a geothermal conversion testing and balancing project to Mechanical Test & Balance for a total contract of $43,000.
Board President Richard Kerns said the district is ahead in its capital improvement work.
“Thankfully over the last 10 years we have gotten almost all of our major projects done,” Kerns said.
“Once we get to the summer of 2024 with our proposed projects, for the first time in 10 years we will be in a position where we are being proactive and preventative in our projects rather than reactive,” West Aurora Superintendent Jeff Craig said.
“It’s been a long haul and it’s been very expensive but fortunately because of our positive referendum and the fiscal efforts on the part of our staff … we are finally at a point that our fund balances are where they should be,” Craig said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.