CARIBOU, Maine — During a September 9, 2016 Building Committee meeting, it was mentioned that the Department of Education would not pay for the new facility’s recently proposed pitched roof or landscaping fees.
According to RSU 39 Business Manager Mark Bouchard, cost estimates for the new roof were relatively low, roughly $7,000, whereas costs for the formerly proposed gym addition and music room are roughly $2 million.
Costs for the pitched roof, according to Alan Kuniholm of PDT Architects, may end up being a wash.
“We did an analysis and argued that it’s a tradeoff between doing parapets and doing pitched roofs because they’re low sloped roofs and not high pitched roofs,” said Kuniholm. “That is what we argued with the Department of Education, they haven’t finalized their analysis but they are going to look at it.”
“We did an analysis for the DOE that shows the increased cost here is really minimal,” said Lyndon Keck of PDT Architects via Skype call. “We think the pitched roofs are essentially similar to the roofs on Teague Park Elementary now. It has a pitch to it so you have a nice opportunity to see it blend in with the residential neighborhood. In the early stages of this project, we’ve heard a number of people say that these roofs would be good for the city’s climate and that flat roofs were not preferred. We just wanted to let the committee know that the DOE will look at our analysis and ask for those costs to be local share.”
At the time of the meeting, the Department of Education had not made a decision related to the analysis presented by PDT architects.
While it was mentioned that the DOE will not pay for landscaping, they will pay for the grass. Limestone Principal Susan White also commented that the landscaping costs for Teague Park, Hilltop, and Caribou Middle school are already part of the RSU 39 budget, and the resulting costs for a single PK–8 facility may not cause any local tax increase.
When the new school goes to referendum, voters will be presented with two items: one for the school without any local taxpayer contribution, and the other would be a choice to accept any additions not covered by the DOE.
As far as additional costs that may spring up during construction, a five percent contingency will be budgeted into the project in the event of unforeseen conditions.
Aside from pitched roofs, landscaping, and the additional gym and music room, all other aspects of the project will be funded via State taxes.
Committee member John Sjostedt said he is willing to go forward with what the taxpayers decide.
“All of us have our own little wish lists for the new school,” Sjostedt said, “but we have to bite the bullet and accept that this is a community decision. I’m not opposed to a flat roof but a sloped roof sure has a better aesthetic and appeal.”
A fundraising effort, dubbed Friends of Caribou Schools, was recently established to offset the potential two million dollar local tax burden associated with an additional gym and music room. Led by Sam Collins and Ron Willey, the committee currently has about $100,000 raised in commitments.
“We met last week and we’re progressing,” said Collins. “We’ve had a meeting with Thompson-Hamel, who are now doing payroll for the school system, and I think they’re amenable to making a donation. We’ve had conversations with MMG, and also had a nice donation from somebody who came in the store (S.W. Collins). They gave $10,000 and their company gave an additional $10,000.”
Friends of Caribou Schools is still searching for more donations and, depending on their total commitment, it may change the language on the referendum as well as the total tax impact associated with the proposed additions.
Those interested in learning more about the fundraiser or contributing to the project can visit focsRSU39.wix.com/focs.
