Renovation is costly.
79% of the cost of building new ($30.1MM v $37.9MM). OSFC rule of thumb is to renovate if less than 2/3 the cost of new.
Consider this: You have a good old car running very poorly. You take it for repairs. Learn the cost is $20,000. Yikes! A rich uncle offers you $6000 toward the purchase of a new $31,000 car to cut your cost to $25,000. Do you fix the old one for $20,000 or buy a new car for $25,000? (Remember: if you renovate, lots of new parts but it’s still an old car.)
Why so much? Must bring the entire facility up to current school building codes. Working within the current structure vs. greenfield construction costs more. And the $30.1MM is an estimate – sure to rise.
If renovation is the choice then Zero OSFC funds to support it. Dover voters rejected the idea in 2003 and 2004. Consensus: “Wait for state funding.” Funding is now here.
In the end we’d end up with a building created for the Industrial Revolution, not the Information Age, with seven floors on a small lot with inadequate parking and no green space. (Still an old car.)
New construction is discounted – OSFC covers 20% of the entire cost.
The Bulding Accessment Committee(A group of citizen from Dover who formed at public meetings.) recognized that Dover wouldn’t be satisfied with an OSFC-minimum building. We added classrooms for AP classes (nine courses for 60 kids in 2010-11); additional labs e.g., PLTW; space for band, steel drum band, choir and orchestra to practice, perform and store their instruments; an auditorium; seating equal to our current gymnasium; and athletic space. Including the cost of land, Locally Funded Initiatives come to $13.7MM. $33.7 + $13.7 = $47.4
Incremental cost of new vs. renovation: $14+ vs $18 fixed monthly for $100,000 home. For less than $4 a month, New’s a better deal than Old.
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