County sets $60M

price tag for WHS
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

The Watauga County commissioners and school board nearly wrapped up bids and price estimates for the new high school during a joint meeting Tuesday, with a final price tag of $60 million.

The boards received the third and final set of bids from the contracting team of Barnhill-Vannoy, setting the guaranteed maximum price for the final phase of construction.

The boards had earlier received bids on the site preparation, steel packages, and facilities construction.

While most of the bids had been opened and accepted, some packages will be advertised again in order to meet the required minimum of three bids.

Marty Moser, director of preconstruction for Barnill-Vannoy, said bids were accepted over three days last week, with 58 individual bid packages sent out for the new high school.

The contracting team submitted a proposed $48.2 million that includes staff costs, trade contracts, construction management fees and other fees.

The three packages combined total $59.9 million, with contingency allowances included to cover any escalations in cost for some materials such as liquid asphalt.

Footers will be dug, beginning April 1. Steel will soon be on site and concrete work will soon begin, with erection of concrete columns beginning in June. Facilities are expected to be complete by May 2010, with the school opening that fall.

Moser said materials prices had increased steadily due to a strong construction market in the state despite a national economic slowdown.

He said construction costs had increased between 6 and 11 percent a year and said the boost could become significant because it includes cost increases in both labor and commodities.

The school voted unanimously to accept the recommendation and the commissioners approved accepting the GMP, which sets the ceiling for the project’s cost and gives the county an amount to use for getting loans.

Commission chairman Jim Deal said more fine-tuning and value engineering will take place but, “essentially, this is what we’re looking at for taking care of the high school.”

Architects for Shuler-Ferris reduced their fees by $232,500, due to Barnhill-Vannoy’s staff handling some of their on-site duties. School board chairman Lowell Younce said the subcommittee had reviewed the agreement and said it offered significant savings and recommended its approval, along with the school board.

The county is seeking to borrow $70 million for the entire school project and expects approval by the Local Government Commission by April 1.

The financing plan will allow the county to save money on interest by selling the current high school and paying off $25 million of the loan without penalty.

The commissioners also approved a lease agreement for the school site, since the county must maintain ownership of the property as a condition of the loan but lease it to the school board for operation.

Under the proposed agreement, the school board will pay $1 a year until the loan is paid off, at which time the property will be transferred to the school board. The lease includes about 87 of the 94 acres the county accumulated for the site, since the county plans other potential uses, such as a recreation center, on the property.

The commissioners formally approved the financing plan that breaks the loan into two amounts, $45 million and $25 million, which will give the county flexibility in paying off the loan. Under the expected payback plan, the debt service and repayment will add up to just more than $90 million. The interest rate on the loan is 4.17 percent.