Gil Trenum, Prince William School Board member representing the Brentsville District, asked Associate Superintendent Dave Cline of the Finance and Planning Services Department for more transparency in regards to cost of new schools.
During the Feb. 6 Board Meeting, Trenum told Cline citizens have been voicing their concerns.
“They say, we can’t correlate the bonds with the amount we’re really spending on schools,” Trenum said.
So he asked that Cline’s office could present some explanation along with bond figures for the new schools, “so people have a better feel for what it actually costs.” Saying an itemization the numbers would provide, “a little more transparency and understanding.”
Trenums request follows a briefing on the inclusion of bonds within the new school budget. The bonds included money to build the Nokesville K-8 school, which is already under construction, a new Haymarket Elementary School due to open in 2015 and the twelfth high school due to open in 2016.
Trenum questioned why the price of the Haymarket differed from the bond, saying for he believed the estimated cost of the school was over $27million, yet it had received a bid for just over $18 million.
Cline answered that there were an estimated $4.9 million in projected costs not included in the bid. Some of these costs include the cost of furniture, architectural design, utility and land costs. The bid also came in under budget.
“The good news,” Cline said, “is we got a really good deal on this building. There are variations (on price) from year to year.”
Trenum spoke with Bristow Beat before the Feb 11 school board meeting, explaining that bids sometimes come in under budget, and thus bond funds could be carried over to other capital improvement projects, such as building other new schools or doing any significant renovations on existing schools.
He said it is not a criticism of the planning department, just a suggestion on how to make the numbers clearer for citizens.
There is often confusion involved identifying the price of a newly built school building as different numbers may be offered by the Prince William County School, depending on which costs they choose to include, or if they quote bond numbers, bid numbers or more accurate numbers to date.
Last year, when Bristow Beat wrote an article including the cost of the Nokesville K-8 School in comparison to Piney Branch, different numbers were given as to the cost of Piney Branch Elementary.
Cline explained at the Feb 6 board meeting that there are some costs not included in the bond estimate. In the case of the upcoming Haymarket elementary school, there are a variety of costs in addition to the cost to build the building itself.
Trenum said he hopes that Prince William Schools can be clearer with the cost of their schools, so residents know the cost to them as the taxpayer and what that cost includes.
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