COOS BAY — Officials estimate Coos Bay School District could save more than $600,000 by planning construction on two new elementary schools before voters decide on a $59.95 million bond measure this fall.

Maintenance Manager Joel Smallwood shared his findings on pre-bond planning at the regular School Board meeting this week. No action was taken by the board, though a couple members expressed interest in the idea.

The proposed bond measure would provide funding to rebuild Madison Elementary School and Eastside School, as well as make repairs to other buildings in the district. The concern is that with every month of delay, the cost of building the schools will increase. Currently, the district estimates the new schools will each cost $20 million provided a construction midpoint of February 2010.

Smallwood based his savings estimate on several factors. He noted that construction materials are becoming more and more expensive, increasing by about 10 to 12 percent a month.



A school district takes an average of about 14 months of planning before it can break ground on a new project, Smallwood said. If Coos Bay waits until after the November election, construction would not begin until January or February 2010. By beginning the planning process several months earlier, the district could see construction under way several months sooner.

Even with an earlier start, Smallwood said it would be hard to have the new schools ready before the start of school in August 2010, but there would be some cost savings.

Using a 5-percent inflation rate for materials, Smallwood said the district would save $664,000, or about $166,000 per month, if it broke ground on the two new schools in September 2009 instead of January 2010.

Smallwood said he could solicit cost estimates from project management firms if the board was interested, the only expense to the district being staff time. He wasn’t sure what pre-bond planning would cost, though he estimated a range of between $30,000 and $80,000.

Business Manager Rod Danielson said the board could reimburse this expense with money from the bond, though the district would foot the bill if voters turn down the measure.

“The risk obviously is if the bond doesn’t pass, it’s coming out of our budget, probably the capital project fund, that would be my guess,” he said.



Board member Donna Opitz said she didn’t see any risk in getting started early. She said she is confident the bond measure will pass in November, but if it doesn’t, the district will still have to deal with its aging buildings. When it does, it will benefit from having completed some planning, even if the district has to dip into its capital project fund to do so.

“I don’t see that as a lost cost,” she said. “I see it as an investment.”

Board member Wally Hazen agreed, noting the plans could be used at a later date if need be.

“The situation is not going away,” he said.