Bid day for Northampton High School renovations

It is bid day for the renovations of Northampton’s High School in Eastville.

Today at 2:00 PM, Northampton Schools will receive the best guestimates from contractors for the project.

The latest estimate put the price tag just shy of $51,000,000, and some Supervisors are worried the financial position such a large project could put the county in.

“Are we making sure we still have enough funds to pay the bills?” asked Supervisor Oliver Bennett and Tuesday night’s regular board meeting.

The County recently spent $20,000,000 in upgrades to the two elementary schools and passed a special sales tax on certain items, hoping it would deflect the burden from Northampton’s tax base to tourists visiting the area.

The General Assembly also gave Northampton $1.3 million for school upgrades in the recent General Assembly.

After $42 million in bond funds, the County would still have a $10 million dollar shortfall at the current expected bid prices.

“I don’t want one project to drag the whole County down,” quipped Chairwoman Betsy Mapp.

“This is why we have capital funds and the undesignated fund balance,” replied County Administrator Charlie Kolakowksi. “I would not recommend dropping them below certain levels, but this is kind of the purpose of this fund.”

The County’s undesignated fund balance is currently around $14 million.

If the Board of Supervisors reject the bids that come in, the entire process would have to start over.

Complicating matters regarding price of materials in the face of high inflation and supply shortages is a rising interest rate environment. Each change of a half a percent in the interest rate will alter the cost of borrowing by $2.5 million.

“All this money we are spending, we have to take better care of our facilities,” Bennett added. “If I build something nice, and someone comes along and defaces it, they need to pay the consequences.”

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