Middle School roof replacement nears completion, roughly $4.5 million under budget

Two years of repairs to the Middle School roof will cost the town under $4.5 million in total, roughly half the $8.9 million in funding the school requested for the project.

Facilities Director Eric Trahan told the School Committee the estimator for the project “came back real high.”

He said the estimator may have still been thinking about the construction environment and the costs which existed during the pandemic. “I’m glad he over-shot it, rather  than under-shot it,” he added.

“It’s beyond an overshoot,” said School Committee member Geoff Swett.

School Committee member Apryl Rossi agreed: “It’s double,” she said.

Voters at Town Meeting authorized $7.5 million in Spring 2023 and $1.5 million in Fall 2022 for a partial roof repair and a complete roof replacement.

According to Town Administrator Derek Sullivan, the two parts of the project were financed separately.

The $1.5 was paid in full at Spring Town Meeting through free cash, said Sullivan. The $7.5 million was approved for borrowing, and was temporarily borrowed during construction, but wouldn’t be permanently borrowed until after construction completed. 

“What is approved at Town Meeting is the maximum allowed to borrow on the project not what you will actually borrow as that is unknown until construction is finalized,” said Sullivan. While the town can’t borrow more than what the project costs, “we are still very happy that what we are borrowing is substantially less than the estimated maximum cost,” he said. 

The partial roof repair was completed in Summer 2023, and cost around $1.2 million, according to Trahan. This year’s full replacement, also known as ‘Phase 2’ of the overall project, will cost around $3.3 million, Trahan said.

The construction for the second phase of the project is just now wrapping up, with workers to be seen on the roof the first week of the new school year.

Trahan said the roof replacement has about two weeks of work left.

The school anticipated the construction to run into the start of the school year, and so prioritized getting the roof above the classrooms finished during the summer months, said Trahan.