The $155 million bond proposal from May 2023 was split into two separate proposals for voter consideration this November, and according to Superintendent Scott Grimes, approximately $9 million was shaved off because the GHAPS leadership determined that they could get away with fewer busses. But what else has changed? We dug a little deeper comparing the May and November proposals, and thought you would find this information quite interesting.
First of all, according to the Application for Preliminary Qualification of Bonds that GHAPS submitted to the State of Michigan for the May 2023 bond proposal, the cost of construction per square foot was estimated to be $292.
For Proposal 1 in November, the cost of construction of the new middle school is estimated to be $498.56 per square foot.
The cost for constructing the 50,000 square foot multipurpose building went from $8,100,000 in May to $14,633,568 in November. Originally estimated to be $162/sq-ft in May, the multipurpose building will now cost $292/sq-ft in November.
This is interesting, because on multiple occasions including the Kenzie B Coffee with the Superintendent event and August GHAPS BOE meetings, Superintendent Grimes has explained that one of the main reasons GHAPS was presenting two new bond proposals to the public was to offer a revised solution at a lower cost than the May proposal. While the total for the new proposal packages may be indeed be lower than May’s proposal, the costs for the two new buildings themselves increased significantly.
In the May 2023 Application for Preliminary Qualification of Bonds, the estimated build cost for the new middle school was listed as $49,572,000. In the November 2023 Fund Allocation Detail document from GMB and Owen Ames Kimball, the building cost is listed as $66,056,091. The May 2023 application has a breakdown that separates:
Construction Contingencies ($6,413,356),
Architectural Fees and Costs ($6,177,748) and
Construction Management Fees and Costs ($8,030,764).
The November 2023 detail does not include those three separate cost breakdowns, but instead rolls them into the new construction price and site improvement price.
Some other differences that stand out include:
In the May 2023 application, the Architectural Fees and Construction Management Fees were approximately 12% of the project cost for all projects except for the new middle school. For the new middle school, the Architectural Fees and Construction Management Fees were approximately 17% of the project cost.
The May 2023 application did not include any Bond Issuance Costs, but the November 2023 detail shows a $631,155 Bond Issuance Cost for Proposal 1, and a $169,103 Bond Issuance Cost for Proposal 2.
In May, $3,000,000 was allotted for music instruments budgeted into stages 2, 3, and 4 corresponding to years 2024, 2025, and 2026. The November detail shows $1,800,000 for musical instruments.
$368,000 per playground, was allocated for every elementary school in May. November’s Proposal 2 contains $490,000 per school per playground.
If these variations are not confusing enough, we have looked through all of the proposals and see few provisions for air-conditioning. The only buildings that will receive HVAC improvements will be the Grand Haven High School, the Administration Building (ESC) and the new middle school. Why is it that the one need that was apparently very evident the first few days of school — schools were dismissed mid-day due to the heat — is not even accounted for in the bonds?
These cost comparisons make me wonder. Did GHAPS neglect playground maintenance in hopes they would receive bond money for replacements? Why did playground inspections that led to the roping off of several elementary building playgrounds just happen to take place as the community is considering bonds? What are these costs based on if they all are changing so wildly?
Why is there so much financial engineering being applied to these new cost breakdowns? It appears these numbers are being manipulated into a state that will be acceptable to the public, but not based on actual needs and costs. It gives me the impression that something is a little off. How will you vote on November 7th?